THE 


BEAUTIFUL  IN  MUSIC 


HAN  SLICK 


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THE 


Beautiful  in  Music 


A     CONTRIBUTION     TO 


THE   REVISAL   OF   MUSICAL   .ESTHETICS 


DR.     EDUARD     HANSLICK 

Professor  at   the    Vienna    University. 

SEVENTH    EDITION,    ENLARGED    AND    REVISED    (LEIPZIG,    1885). 


Translated  by  GUSTAV  COHEN 

And  dedicated  to  his  Friends 
MR.    AND    MRS.    F.    COLLIER. 


London:   NOVELLO  AND  COMPANY,  Limited. 
New  York  :   THE  H.  \V.  GRAY  CO.,  Sole  Agents  for  the  U.S.A. 


1891. 


/> 


MADE  IN  ENGLAND. 


Music 
Library 


DEDICATED     TO 

ROBERT    ZIMMERMANN 

rROFESSOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY    AT   THE   VIENNA   UNIVERSITY, 

BY     HIS     FAITHFUL      FRIEND 

THE   AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I.  page 

./Esthetics  as  founded  on  Feelings    ...         ...       15 

CHAPTER    II. 

The   representation  of  Feelings   is   not  the 

Subject  of  Music 32 

CHAPTER    III. 
The  Beautiful  in  Music 66 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Analysis    of    the    subjective     Impression    of 

Music      99 

CHAPTER    V. 

An  ^Esthetic  Hearing  as  distinguished  from 

a  Pathological  Hearing  of  Music  ,..     123 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Music  in  its  relation  to  Nature        143 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Form  and  Substance   (Subject)  as  applied  to 

Music      160 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE. 

IF  I  have  ventured  to  translate  Dr.  Eduarcl 
Hanslick's  "Vom  Musikalisch-Schonen,"  1 
have  done  so  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  short- 
comings which  every  translation  must  present,  and 
especially  one  like  this,  the  original  of  which  is  so 
inimitable  in  style  and  so  thoroughly  German  in 
construction,  that  even  far  more  competent  writers 
than  myself  would  find  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  do  complete  justice  to  it.  My  excuse  for  under- 
taking so  arduous  a  task  must  be  the  desire  to 
introduce  to  the  English  reader  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  books  on  musical  aesthetics,  and  one 
which  has  deservedly  gained  a  wide  reputation 
among  the  German-speaking  communities.  The 
work  is  not  of  recent  date,  the  first  edition  having 
appeared  close  on  forty  years  ago ;  yet,  as  is  the 
case  with  all  works  dealing  with  principles  and  not 
with  questions  of  local  01  contemporary  interest, 
the  fact  of  its  age  in  no  way  detracts  from  its 
importance.  In  conclusion,  I  may  say  that  I  have 
not  aimed  so  much  at  perfection  in  style  as  at 
reflecting  with  fidelity  the  mind  and  spirit  of  the 
author. 

GUSTAV  COHEN. 
Sale,  May,  i8qt. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   SEVENTH 
EDITION. 

THIS,  the  seventh  edition  of  the  work  which  first 
appeared  in  the  year  1854,  does  not  differ 
materially  from  the  fifth  (1876)  and  the  sixth  (1881) 
editions,  but  merely  contains  some  explanatory  and 
amplifying  additions.  By  way  of  introducing  it  to 
the  public  I  should  best  like  to  borrow  the  words  with 
which  the  estimable  Fr.  Th.  Vischer  has  just  prefaced 
the  reprint  of  an  older  essay  of  his  ("  Der  Traum  ").* 
"  I  include  this  essay,"  says  Vischer,  "  in  the  present 
series,  without  shielding  it  from  the  attacks  which 
have  been  levelled  against  it.  I  have  also  refrained 
from  improving  it  by  retouches,  excepting  a  few 
unimportant  alterations.  I  might  now,  perhaps, 
here  and  there  choose  a  different  mode  of  expression, 
give  a  fuller  exposition,  or  assert,  things  in  a  more 
qualified  and  guarded  manner.  Who  is  ever  com- 
pletely satisfied  with  a  work  which  he  reads  again 
after  the  lapse  of  years  ?  Yet  we  know  but  too  well 
that  corrective  touches  often  rather  spoil  than 
improve." 

If  I  were  to  enter  upon  a  polemic  campaign,  and 


•  "  Altes  und  Neuee,"  von  Fr.  Th.  Vifcher  (Stuttgart  1881),  page  187. 


10  PREFACE. 

reply  to  all  criticisms  which  my  book  has  provoked, 
this  volume  would  grow  to  an  alarming  size.  My 
convictions  have  remained  unaltered,  and  so  has  the 
irreconcilable  antagonism  of  the  contrary  musical 
parties  of  the  present  day.*  The  reader  will, 
therefore,  no  doubt,  allow  me  to  repeat  some  of  the 
remarks  which  I  made  in  the  preface  to  the  third 
edition.  I  know  the  shortcomings  of  this  essay  but 
too  well ;  still,  the  favourable  reception  accorded 
to  the  earlier  editions — a  reception  which  far  exceeded 
my  expectations — and  the  highly  gratifying  interest 
taken  in  the  book  by  eminent  experts,  proficient 
both  as  philosophers  and  musicians,  have  con- 
vinced me  that  my  views — the  somewhat  cate- 
gorical and  rhapsodical  manner  in  which  they 
were  originally  stated,  notwithstanding — had  fallen 
on  fertile  ground.  A  very  notable  concurrence 
with  these  views  I  found,  to  my  agreeable 
surprise,  in  the  aphorisms  and  short  essays  on 
music  by  Grillparzer,  published  only  some  ten  years 
ago,  after  the  poet's  death.  Some  of  the  most 
valuable  of  his  propositions  I  could  not  refrain  from 
quoting    in   this    new    edition,    while    in    my   essay 

*  O.  Hostinsky's  interesting  and  carefully  worded  essay  ("Das 
Musikalisch-Schone  und  das  Gesammtkunstwerk  von  Standpunkt  der 
formalen  ^Esthetik,"  Leipzig,  1877)  is  a  paradoxical  exception. 
Though  in  the  first  part  he,  to  all  appearance,  clearly  and  fully 
endorses  my  premises,  he  subsequently,  on  discussing  the  term 
"  Kun»t%erein  "  (the  combination  of  arts),  narrows,  twists,  and  inter- 
prets them  in  such  a  manner  as  to  reach  conclusions  completely  at 
variance  with  my  own. 


PREFACE.  II 


"  Grillparzer  unci  die  Musik,"  I  have  discussed 
them  at  greater  length. 

Certain  vehement  opponents  of  mine  have  occa- 
sionally imputed  to  me  a  flat  and  unqualified  denial 
of  whatever  goes  under  the  name  of  feeling ;  but 
every  dispassionate  and  attentive  reader  will  have 
readily  observed  that  I  only  protest  against  the 
intrusion  of  the  feelings  upon  the  province  of 
science,  in  other  words — that  I  take  up  the  cudgels 
against  those  aesthetic  enthusiasts  who,  though 
presuming  to  teach  the  musician,  in  reality  only 
dilate  upon  their  tinkling  opium-dreams.  I  am 
quite  at  one  with  those  who  hold  that  the  ultimate 
worth  of  the  beautiful  must  ever  depend  upon  the 
immediate  verdict  of  the  feelings.  But  at  the  same 
time  I  firmly  adhere  to  the  conviction,  that  all  the 
customary  appeals  to  our  emotional  faculty  can 
never  show  the  way  to  a  single  musical  law. 

This  conviction  forms  one  of  the  propositions — 
the  principal  but  negative  proposition- — of  this  enquiry 
which  is  mainly  and  primarily  directed  against  the 
widely-accepted  doctrine  that  the  office  of  music  is 
"  to  represent  feelings."  It  is  difficult  to  see  why 
this  should  be  thought  equivalent  to  "  affirming  that 
music  is  absolutely  destitute  of  feeling."  The  rose 
smells  sweet,  yet  its  subject  is  surely  not  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  odour  ;  the  forest  is  cool  and  shady, 


*"  Musikalische  Stationer), "  by  Ed.  Hanslick  (Berlin:    published 
by  G.  Hoffmann,  1878,  page  331,  &c  ) 


12  PREFACE. 

but  it  certainly  does  not  represent  "  the  feeling  of 
coolness  and  shadiness."  It  is  not  a  mere  verbal 
quibble  if  the  term  "  to  represent "  is  here  expressly 
taken  exception  to,  for  it  is  this  term  which  is 
answerable  for  the  grossest  errors  in  musical 
aesthetics.  The  "representing"  of  something  al- 
ways involves  the  conception  of  two  separate  and 
distinct  objects  which  by  a  special  act  are  purposely 
brought  into  relation  with  each  other. 

Emanuel  Geibel,  by  a  felicitously  chosen  parallel, 
has  described  this  relation  in  the  following  distich, 
with  greater  perspicuity  and  more  agreeably  than 
philosophic  analyses  could  ever  do  : — 

"  Warum  gluckt  es  dir  nie,  Musik  mit  Worten  zu  schildern  ? 
Weil  sie,  ein  rein  Element,  Bild  und  Gedanken  verschmaht. 
Selbst  das  Gefuhl  ist  nur  wie   ein  sanft  durchscheinender 

Flussgrund, 
Drauf  ihrklingender  Strom  sinkend  und  schwellend  entrollt." 

Now,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  author 
of  these  beautiful  lines  was  inspired  by  thoughts 
which  this  essay  suggested,  it  appears  to  me  that  my 
views  so  vigorously  denounced  byromantic  enthusiasts 
are,  after  all,  quite  compatible  with  true  poetry. 

The  negative  proposition  referred  to  is  comple- 
mented by  its  correlative,  the  affirmative  proposition  ; 
the  beauty  of  a  composition  is  specifically  musical — i.e., 
it  inheres  in  the  combinations  of  musical  sounds 
and  is  independent  of  all  alien,  extra-musical 
notions.  The  author  has  honestly  endeavoured  to 
make  an  exhaustive  enquiry  into  the  positive  aspects 


PREFACE.  13 

of  the  "musically  beautiful,"  upon  which  the  very 
existence  of  our  art  and  the  supreme  laws  of  its 
aesthetics  depend.  If,  nevertheless,  the  controversial 
and  negative  elements  predominate,  I  must  plead 
the  circumstances  of  the  time  as  my  excuse.  When 
I  wrote  this  treatise,  the  advocates  of  the  "  music  of 
the  future  "  were  loudest  in  their  praises  of  it,  and 
could  but  provoke  a  reaction  on  the  part  of  people 
holding  opinions  such  as  I  do.  Just  when  I  was 
busy  preparing  the  second  edition,  "  Liszt's  Pro- 
gramme-Symphonies "  had  appeared,  which  denied 
to  music  more  completely  than  ever  before  its 
independent  sphere,  and  dosed  the  listener  with  it  as 
a  kind  of  vision-promoting  medicine.  Since  then, 
the  world  has  been  enriched  by  Richard  Wagner's 
"Tristan,"  "NibelungenRing,"andhisdoctrineof  the 
infinite  melody — i.e.,  formlessness  exalted  into  a  prin- 
ciple; the  intoxicating  effect  of  opium  manifested  both 
in  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  for  the  worship  of 
which  a  temple  has  been  specially  erected  at  Bayreuth. 

I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned,  if  in  view  of  such 
symptoms  I  felt  no  inclination  to  abbreviate  or 
temper  the  polemic  part  of  this  essay ;  but  pointed, 
on  the  contrary,  more  emphatically  than  ever  to  the 
one  and  immutable  factor  in  music,  to  purely  musical 
beauty,  such  as  our  great  masters  have  embodied  in 
their  works,  and  such  as  true  musical  genius  will 
produce  to  the  end  of  time. 

EDUARD  HANSLICK. 

Vienna,  January,  1885. 


CHAPTER   I. 

The  course  hitherto  pursued  in  musical  aesthetics 
has  nearly  always  been  hampered  by  the  false 
assumption  that  the  object  was  not  so  much  to 
enquire  into  what  is  beautiful  in  music,  as  to  de- 
scribe the  feelings  which  music  awakens.  This 
view  entirely  coincides  with  that  of  the  older 
systems  of  aesthetics,  which  considered  the  beautiful 
solely  in  reference  to  the  sensations  aroused,  and  the 
philosophy  of  beauty  as  the  offspring  of  sensation 
(ater0»/ixte)  • 

Such  systems  of  aesthetics  are  not  only  unphilo- 
sophical,  but  they  assume  an  almost  sentimental 
character  when  applied  to  the  most  ethereal  of  all 
arts,  and  though  no  doubt  pleasing  to  a  certain  class 
of  enthusiasts,  they  afford  but  little  enlightenment 
to  a  thoughtful  student,  who,  in  order  to  learn 
something  about  the  real  nature  of  music,  will, 
above  all,  remain  deaf  to  the  fitful  promptings 
of  passion,  and  not,  as  most  manuals  on  music 
direct,  turn  to  the  emotions  as  a  source  of 
knowledge. 

The  tendency  in  science  to  study,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  objective  aspect  of  things  could  not  but 
affect  researches  into  the  nature  of  beauty.  A  satis- 
factory result,  however,  is  only  to  be  attained  by 
relinquishing  a  method  which  starts  from  subjective 


l6  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

sensation,  only  to  bring  us  face  to  face  with  it  once 
more,  after  taking  us  for  a  poetic  ramble  over  the 
surface  of  the  subject.  Any  such  investigation  will 
prove  utterly  futile,  unless  the  method  obtaining  in 
natural  science  be  followed  at  least  in  the  sense  of 
dealing  with  the  things  themselves,  in  order  to 
determine  what  is  permanent  and  objective  in  them, 
when  dissociated  from  the  ever-varying  impressions 
which  they  produce. 

Poetry,  sculpture,  and  painting  are,  in  point  of 
well-grounded  aesthetic  treatment,  far  in  advance  of 
music.  Few  writers  on  these  subjects  still  labour 
under  the  delusion  that  from  a  general  metaphysical 
conception  of  beaut)'  (a  conception  which  necessarily 
varies  with  the  art)  the  aesthetic  principles  of  any 
specific  art  can  be  deduced.  Formerly,  the  aesthetic 
principles  of  the  various  arts  were  supposed  to  be 
governed  by  some  supreme  metaphysical  principle  of 
general  aesthetics.  Now,  however,  the  conviction  is 
daily  growing  that  each  individual  art  can  be  under- 
stood only  by  studying  its  technical  limits  and  its 
inherent  nature.  "  Systems  "  are  gradually  being 
supplanted  by  "researches,"  founded  on  the  thesis 
that  the  laws  of  beauty  for  each  art  are  inseparably 
associated  with  the  individuality  of  the  art,  and  the 
nature  of  its  medium.* 


*  Robert  Schumann  has  done  a  great  deal  of  mischief  by  his 
proposition  (Collected  Works  I.,  43): — "The  aesthetic  principles  of 
"one  art  are  those  of  the  others,  the  material  alone  being  different." 
Grillparzer  expresses  a  very  different  opinion  and  takes  the  right 
view  when  he  says  (Complete  Works  IX.,  142) :  —  "  Probably  no  worse 
"  service  has   ever  been  rendered   to  the  arts  than  when  German 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  17 

In  aesthetics  of  rhetoric,  of  sculpture,  and  paint- 
ing, no  less  than  in  art-criticism— the  practical 
application  of  the  foregoing  sciences — the  rule  has 
already  been  laid  down  that  aesthetic  investigations 
must,  above  all,  consider  the  beautiful  object,  and  not 
the  perceiving  subject. 

Music  alone  is  unable,  apparently,  to  adopt  this 
objective  mode  of  procedure.  Rigidly  distinguishing 
between  its  theoretico -grammatical  rules  and  its 
aesthetic  researches,  the  former  are  generally  stated 
in  extremely  dry  and  prosaic  language,  while  .the 
latter  are  wrapped  in  a  cloud  of  high-flown  senti- 
mentality. The  task  of  clearly  realising  music  as  a 
self-subsistent  form  of  the  beautiful,  has  hitherto 
presented  unsurmountable  difficulties  to  musical 
aesthetics,  and  the  dictates  of  "emotion"  still  haunt 
their  domain  in  broad  daylight.  Beauty  in  music  is 
still  as  much  as  ever  viewed  only  in  connection  with 
its  subjective  impressions,  and  books,  critiques,  and 
conversations  continually  remind  us  that  the  emotions 
are  the  only  aesthetic  foundation  of  music,  and  that 
they  alone  are  warranted  in  defining  its  scope. 

"  writers  included  them  all  in  the  collective  name  of  art.  Many 
"  points  they  undoubtedly  have  in  common,  yet  they  widely  diverge 
"  not  only  in  the  means  they  employ,  but  also  in  their  fundamental 
"  principles.  The  essential  difference  between  music  and  poetry 
"  might  be  brought  into  strong  relief  by  showing  that  music  primarily 
"affects  the  senses  and,  after  rousing  the  emotions,  reaches  the 
"  intellect  last  of  all.  Poetry,  on  the  other  hand,  first  raises  up  an 
"idea  which  in  its  turn  excites  the  emotions,  while  it  affects  the 
"  senses  only  as  an  extreme  result  of  its  highest  or  lowest  form. 
"They,  therefore,  pursue  an  exactly  opposite  course,  for  one 
"spiritualises  the  material,  whereas  the  other  materialises  the 
"  spiritual." 

B 


l8  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

Music,  we  are  told,  cannot,  like  poetry,  entertain 
the  mind  with  definite  conceptions,  nor  yet  the  eye, 
like  sculpture  and  painting,  with  visible  forms. 
Hence,  it  is  argued,  its  object  must  be  to  work  on 
the  feelings.  "  Music  has  to  do  with  feelings."  This 
expression  "  has  to  do"  is  highly  characteristic  of  all 
works  on  musical  aesthetics.  But  what  the  nature 
of  the  link  is  that  connects  music  with  the  emotions, 
or  certain  pieces  of  music  with  certain  emotions ;  by 
what  laws  of  nature  it  is  governed,  what  the  canons 
of  art  are  that  determine  its  form — all  these  questions 
are  left  in  complete  darkness  by  the  very  people  who 
have  "  to  do "  with  them.  Only  when  one's  eyes 
have  become  somewhat  accustomed  to  this  obscurity 
does  it  become  manifest  that  the  emotions  play  a 
double  part  in  music,  as  currently  understood. 

On  the  one  hand  it  is  said  that  the  aim  and  object 
of  music  is  to  excite  emotions — i.e.,  pleasurable 
emotions ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  emotions  are  said 
to  be  the  subject-matter  which  musical  works  are 
intended  to  illustrate. 

Both  propositions  are  alike  in  this,  that  one  is  as 
false  as  the  other. 

The  refutation  of  the  first  of  these  propositions, 
which  forms  the  introduction  to  most  manuals  of 
music,  must  not  detain  us  long.  The  beautiful, 
strictly  speaking,  aims  at  nothing,  since  it  is  nothing 
but  a  form  which,  though  available  for  many 
purposes  according  to  its  nature  has,  as  such,  no 
aim  beyond  itself.  If  the  contemplation  of  some- 
thing beautiful  arouses  pleasurable  feelings,  this 
effect 'is   distinct  from    the    beautiful  as    such.      I 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  Ig 

may,  indeed,  place  a  beautiful  object  before  an 
observer,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  giving  him 
pleasure,  but  this  purpose  in  no  way  affects  the 
beauty  of  the  object.  The  beautiful  is  and  remains 
beautiful  though  it  arouse  no  emotion  whatever,  and 
though  there  be  no  one  to  look  at  it.  In  other  words, 
although  the  beautiful  exists  for  the  gratification  of 
an  observer,  it  is  independent-  of  him. 

In  this  sense  music,  too,  has  no  aim  (object)  and 
the  mere  fact  that  this  particular  art  is  so  closely 
bound  up  with  our  feelings,  by  no  means  justifies  the 
assumption  that  its  aesthetic  principles  depend  on 
this  union. 

In  order  to  critically  examine  this  relation,  we 
must,  in  the  first  place,  scrupulously  distinguish 
between  the  terms  "  feeling "  and  "  sensation," 
although  in  ordinary  parlance  no  objection  need  be 
raised  to  their  indiscriminate  use. 

Sensation  is  the  act  of  perceiving  some  sensible 
quality,  such  as  a  sound  or  a  colour,  whereas  feeling 
is  the  consciousness  of  some  psychical  activity — i.e., 
a  state  of  satisfaction  or  discomfort. 

If  I  note  (perceive)  with  my  senses  the  odour  or 
taste  of  some  object,  or  its  form,  colour,  or  sound,  I 
call  this  state  of  consciousness  my  sensation  of  these 
qualities;  but  if  sadness,  hope,  cheerfulness  or  hatred 
appreciably  raise  me  above,  or  depress  me  below  the 
habitual  level  of  mental  activity,  I  am  said  to  feel.* 

*  Older  philosophers  agree  with  modern  physiologists  in  the 
definition  of  these  terms,  and  we  unhesitatingly  prefer  this  definition 
to  the  terminology  of  Hegel's  school  cf  philosophy,  which,  as  is  well 
known,  distinguishes  between  internal  and  external  sensations. 


20  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

The  beautiful,  first  of  all,  affects  our  senses.  This, 
however,  is  not  peculiar  to  the  beautiful  alone,  but  is 
common  to  all  phenomena  whatsoever.  Sensation, 
the  beginning  and  condition  of  all  aesthetic  enjoyment, 
is  the  source  of  feeling  in  its  widest  sense,  and  this 
fact  presupposes  some  relation,  and  often  a  highly 
complex  one,  between  the  two.  No  art  is  required 
to  produce  a  sensation ;  a  single  sound  or  colour  may 
suffice.  As  previously  stated,  the  two  terms  are  gener- 
ally employed  promiscuously  ;  but  older  writers  speak 
of  "  sensation,"  where  we  should  use  the  term 
"  feeling."  What  those  writers  intend  to  convey, 
therefore,  is  that  the  object  of  music  is  to  arouse  our 
feelings,  and  to  fill  our  hearts  with  piety,  love,  joy,  or 
sadness. 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  this  is  the  aim  neither 
of  music  nor  of  any  other  art.  An  art  aims,  above 
all,  at  producing  something  beautiful  which  affects 
not  our  feelings,  but  the  organ  of  pure  contemplation, 
our  imagination.* 

It  is  rather  curious  that  musicians  and  the  older 
writers  on  aesthetics  take  into  account  only  the 
contrast  of  "feeling"  and  "intellect,"  quite  oblivious 
of  the  fact  that  the  main  point  at  issue  lies  half-way 
between   the   horns   of  this   supposed   dilemma.      A 


*  Hegel  has  shown  that  the  method  of  examining  into  the 
"sensations"  {i.e.,  "  feelings"  according  to  our  terminology)  which  a 
work  of  art  awakens,  proceeds  on  indefinite  lines  and  ignores  the 
truly  concrete  element  altogether.  "  What  we  are  sensible  of,"'  he 
says,  "is  indissolubly  connected  with  the  most  abstract  and  individual 
"  subjectivity.  The  several  kinds  of  sensations  produced  are,  therefore, 
"  different  in  a  subjective  sense  only  and  not  distinct  modes  of  the 
♦'thing  itself."    (Msthetik  I.,  142.) 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  21 

musical  composition  originates  in  the  composer's 
imagination,  and  is  intended  for  the  imagination  of 
the  listener.  Our  imagination,  it  is  true,  does  not 
merely  contemplate  the  beautiful,  but  it  contemplates 
it  with  intelligence,  the  object  being,  as  it  were, 
mentally  inspected  and  criticised.  Our  judgment, 
however,  is  formed  so  rapidly,  that  we  are  uncon- 
scious of  the  separate  acts  involved  in  the  process, 
whence  the  delusion  arises  that,  what  in  reality 
depends  upon  a  complex  train  of  reasoning,  is 
merely  an  act  of  intuition. 

The  word"  Anschauung"  (viewing,  contemplating) 
is  no  longer  applied  to  visual  processes  only,  but 
also  to  the  functions  of  the  other  senses.  It  is,  in 
fact,  eminently  suited  to  describe  the  act  of 
attentive  hearing  which  is  nothing  but  a  mental 
inspection  of  a  succession  of  musical  images.  Our 
imagination,  withal,  is  not  an  isolated  faculty,  for 
though  the  vital  spark  originates  in  the  senses,  it 
forthwith  kindles  the  flame  of  the  intellect  and  the 
emotions.  A  true  conception  of  the  beautiful  is,  never- 
theless, independent  of  this  aspect  of  the  question. 

In  the  pure  act  of  listening,  we  enjoy  the  music 
alone,  and  do  not  think  of  importing  into  it  any 
extraneous  matter.  But  the  tendency  to  allow  our 
feelings  to  be  aroused,  implies  something  extraneous 
to  the  music.  An  exclusive  activity  of  the  intellect, 
resulting  from  the  contemplation  of  the  beautiful, 
involves  not  an  aesthetic,  but  a  logical  relation,  while 
a  predominant  action  on  the  feelings  brings  us  on 
still  more  slippery  ground,  implying,  as  it  does,  a 
pathological  relation. 


22  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

These  inferences,  drawn  long  ago  from  principles 
of  general  aesthetics,  apply  with  equal  force  to  the 
beautiful  in  every  art.  If  music,  therefore,  is  to  be 
treated  as  an  art,  it  is  not  our  feelings,  but  our 
imagination  which  must  supply  the  aesthetic  tests. 
It  is  as  well  to  make  this  premise  hypothetical,  seeing 
that  the  soothing  effect  of  music  on  the  human 
passions  is  always  affirmed  with  such  emphasis,  that 
we  are  often  in  doubt  whether  music  is  a  police 
regulation,  an  educational  rule,  or  a  medical  pre- 
scription. 

Yet,  musicians  are  less  prone  to  believe  that  all 
arts  must  be  uniformly  gauged  by  our  feelings,  than 
that  this  principle  is  true  of  music  alone.  It  is  this 
very  power  and  tendency  of  music  to  arouse  in  the 
listener  any  given  emotion  which,  they  think, 
distinguishes  this  art  from  all  the  others.* 

As  on  a  previous  occasion  we  were  unable  to 
accept  the  doctrine  that  it  is  the  aim  of  art  in  general 
to  produce  any  such  effect,  we  are  now  equally 
unable  to  regard  it  as  the  specific  aim  of  music  to  do 
so.  Grant  that  the  true  organ  with  which  the  beautiful 
is  apprehended  is  the  imagination,  and  it  follows  that 
all  arts  are  likely  to  affect  the  feelings  indirectly. 


*  At  a  time  when  no  distinction  was  made  even  between  "  feeling  " 
and  "  sensation,"  a  more  critical  examination  into  the  varieties  of  the 
former  was,  of  course,  out  of  the  question.  Sensuous  and  intellectual 
feelings,  the  enduring  state  known  as  frame  of  mind,  the  acute  or 
emotional  state,  inclination  and  passion,  no  less  than  the  gradations 
peculiar  to  the  latter,  the  "  pathos  "  of  the  Greeks  and  the  "  passio  " 
of  the  more  modern  Romans,  were  all  confounded  in  one  inextricable 
jumble,  while  of  music  nothing  was  predicated,  except  that  it  was 
the  art  of  exciting  emotions. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC.  2J 

Are  we  not  moved  by  a  great  historical  picture  with 
the  vividness  of  actual  experience  ?  Do  not 
Raphael's  Madonnas  fill  us  with  piety,  and  do  not 
Poussin's  landscapes  awaken  in  us  an  irresistible 
desire  to  roam  about  in  the  world  ?  Do  our  feelings 
remain  callous  to  a  sight  such  as  the  Strasburg 
Cathedral  ?  All  these  questions  admit  of  but  one 
reply,  which  is  equally  true  of  poetry  and  of  many 
extra-aesthetic  states  of  mind,  such  as  religious 
fervour,  eloquence,  &c.  We  thus  see  that  all  other 
arts,  too,  affect  us  with  considerable  force.  The 
inherent  peculiarities  assumed  to  distinguish  music 
from  the  other  arts  would  depend,  therefore,  upon 
the  degree  of  intensity  of  this  force.  The  attempt, 
however,  thus  to  solve  the  problem,  is  not  only 
highly  unscientific,  but  is,  moreover,  of  no  avail, 
because  the  decision  whether  one  is  more  deeply 
affected  by  a  Symphony  of  Mozart,  a  tragedy  by 
Shakespeare,  a  poem  by  Uhland,  or  a  Rondo  by 
Hummel  must  depend,  after  all,  on  the  individual 
himself.  Those  again  who  hold  that  music  affects 
our  feelings  "  directly,"  whereas  the  other  arts  do  so 
only  through  the  medium  of  ideas,  express  the  same 
error  in  other  words.  For  we  have  already  seen 
that  the  excitation  of  feelings  by  the  beautiful  in 
music  is  but  one  of  its  indirect  effects,  our 
imagination  only  being  directly  affected.  Musical 
dissertations  constantly  recall  the  analogy  which 
undoubtedly  exists  between  music  and  architecture, 
but  what  architect  in  his  senses  ever  conceived  the 
aim  of  architecture  to  be  the  excitation  of  feelings, 
or  the  feelings  the  subject-matter  of  his  art  ? 


24  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

Every  real  work  of  art  appeals  to  our  emotional 
faculty  in  some  way,  but  none  in  any  exclusive 
way.  No  canon  peculiar  to  musical  aesthetics 
only  can  be  deduced  from  the  fact  that  there 
is  a  certain  connection  between  music  and  the 
emotions.  We  might  as  well  study  the  properties  of 
wine  by  getting  drunk.  The  crux  of  the  question  is 
the  specific  mode  in  which  music  affects  our  feelings. 
Hence,  instead  of  enlarging  on  the  vague  and 
secondary  effects  of  musical  phenomena,  we  ought  to 
endeavour  to  penetrate  deeply  into  the  spirit  of  the 
works  themselves,  and  to  explain  their  effects  by  the 
laws  of  their  inherent  nature.  A  poet  or  painter 
would  hardly  persuade  himself  that  when  he  has 
ascertained  the  "  feelings  "  his  landscape  or  drama 
awakens,  he  has  obtained  a  rationale  of  the  beauties 
contained  in  it.  He  will  seek  to  discover  the  source  of 
the  irresistible  power  which  makes  us  enjoy  the  work 
in  this  particular  form  and  in  no  other.  Writers  on 
this  subject  are  by  no  means  justified  in  confusing 
emotional  impressions  and  musical  beauty  (in- 
stead of  adopting  the  scientific  method  of  keeping 
these  two  factors  apart  as  much  as  possible)  simply 
because  an  enquiry  of  this  kind  offers  in  respect  of- 
music,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  far  greater 
difficulties  than  any  other  art,  and  because  such  an 
enquiry  cannot  go  below  a  certain  depth. 

Independently  of  the  fact  that  our  feelings  can 
never  become  the  basis  of  aesthetic  laws,  there  are 
many  cogent  reasons  why  we  should  not  trust  to  the 
feelings  aroused  by  music.  As  a  consequence  of  our 
mental  constitution,  words,  titles,  and    other  con- 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 


-O 


ventional  associations  (in  sacred,  military,  and 
operatic  music  more  especially)  give  to  our  feelings 
and  thoughts  a  direction  which  we  often  falsely 
ascribe  to  the  character  of  the  music  itself.  For,  in 
reality,  there  is  no  causal  nexus  between  a  musical 
composition  and  the  feelings  it  may  excite,  as  the 
latter  vary  with  our  experience  and  impressibility. 
The  present  generation  often  wonder  how  their  fore- 
fathers could  imagine  that  just  this  arrangement  ot 
sounds  adequately  represented  just  this  feeling. 
We  need  but  instance  the  effects  which  works  by 
Mozart,  Beethoven,  and  Weber  produced  when  they 
were  new,  as  compared  with  their  effects  on  us.  How 
many  compositions  by  Mozart  were  thought  by  his 
contemporaries  to  be  the  most  perfect  expression  of 
passion,  warmth,  and  vigour  of  which  music  is 
capable.  The  placidity  and  moral  sunshine  of 
Haydn's  symphonies  were  placed  in  contrast  with 
the  violent  bursts  of  passion,  the  internal  strife,  the 
bitter  and  acute  grief  embodied  in  Mozart's  music* 
Twenty  or  thirty  years  later,  precisely  the  same 
comparison  was  made  between  Beethoven  and 
Mozart.  Mozart,  the  emblem  of  supreme  and 
transcendent  passion,  was  replaced  by  Beethoven, 
while  he  himself  was  promoted  to  the  Olympic 
classicalness  of  Haydn.     Every  observant  musician 


*  Of  Rochlitz,  in  particular,  there  are  sayings  on  record  about 
Mozart's  instrumental  music,  which  sound  rather  strange  to  our  ears. 
This  same  Rochlitz  describes  the  graceful  Minuet-Capriccio  in 
Weber's  Sonata  in  A  flat,  as  "the  copious,  incessant  effusion  of  a 
"passionate  and  fiercely  agitated  mind,  controlled,  withal,  by  a 
"  marvellous  steadiness  of  purpose." 


26  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

will,  in  the  course  of  his  own  life,  experience 
analogous  changes  of  taste.  The  musical  merit  of 
the  many  compositions  which  at  one  time  made  so 
deep  an  impression,  and  the  aesthetic  enjoyment 
which  their  originality  and  beauty  still  yield,  are  not 
altered  in  the  least  by  this  dissimilar  effect  on  the 
feelings  at  different  periods.  Thus,  there  is  no 
invariable  and  inevitable  nexus  between  musical 
works  and  certain  states  of  mind  ;  the  connection 
being,  on  the  contrary,  of  a  far  more  transient  kind 
than  in  any  other  art. 

It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  effect  of  music 
on  the  emotions  does  not  possess  the  attributes  of 
inevitableness,  exclusiveness,  and  uniformity  that  a 
phenomenon  from  which  aesthetic  principles  are  to  be 
deduced  ought  to  have. 

Far  be  it  from  us  to  underrate  the  deep  emotions 
which  music  awakens  from  their  slumber,  or  the 
feelings  of  joy  or  sadness  which  our  minds  dreamily 
experience.  It  is  one  of  the  most  precious  and 
inestimable  secrets  of  nature,  that  an  art  should  have 
the  power  of  evoking  feelings  entirely  free  from 
worldly  associations,  and  kindled,  as  it  were,  by  the 
spark  divine.  It  is  only  the  unscientific  proceeding 
of  deducing  cssthetic  principles  from  such  facts  against 
which  we  protest.  Music  may,  undoubtedly,  awaken 
feelings  of  great  joy  or  intense  sorrow;  but  might 
not  the  same  or  a  still  greater  effect  be  produced  by 
the  news  that  we  have  won  the  first  prize  in  the 
lottery,  or  by  the  dangerous  illness  of  a  friend  ?  So 
long  as  we  refuse  tc  include  lottery  tickets  among 
the     symphonies,  or  medical    bulletins   among    the 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  2J 

overtures,  we  must  refrain  from  treating  the  emotions 
as  an  aesthetic  monopoly  of  music  in  general  or 
a  certain  piece  of  music  in  particular.  Everything 
depends  upon  the  specific  "modus  operandi"  by  means 
of  which  music  evokes  such  feelings.  The  fourth  and1 
fifth  chapters  will  be  devoted  to  a  critical  examination 
of  the  influence  which  music  exerts  on  our  feelings, 
and  we  shall  then  have  occasion  to  consider  the 
positive  aspect  of  this  remarkable  connection.  In 
this,  the  introductory  chapter  of  our  work,  our  object 
was  to  throw  as  much  light  as  possible  on  its 
negative  aspect  as  a  standing  protest  against  an 
unscientific  principle. 

Herbarth  (in  the  ninth  chapter  of  his  Encyclopaedia) 
has,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  struck  the  first 
blow  at  the  theory  that  the  feelings  are  the 
foundation  of  musical  aesthetics.  After  expressing 
his  disapproval  of  the  vague  manner  in  which  works 
of  art  are  criticised,  he  goes  on  to  say:  "  Interpreters 
"  of  dreams  and  astrologers  have  for  thousands  of 
"years  persistently  ignored  the  fact  that  people 
"dream  because  they  are  asleep,  and  that  the  stars 
"  appear  now  in  one  part  of  the  heavens  and  now  in 
"another,  because  they  are  in  motion.  Similarly, 
"  there  are  even  good  musicians  who  still  cling  to  the 
"  belief  that  music  is  capable  of  expressing  definite 
"  feelings,  as  though  the  feelings  which  it  accidentally 
"  arouses  and  to  express  which  music  may  for  this 
"  very  reason  be  employed,  were  the  proximate  cause 
"of  the  rules  of  simple  and  double  counterpoint. 
"  For  these  alone  form  the  groundwork  of  music.  What 
"  subject,  we  might  ask,  did  the  old  masters  mean  to 


28  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

"  illustrate,  when  they  developed  all  the  possible  forms 
"  of  the  fugue  ?  No  subject  at  all.  Their  thoughts 
"did  not  travel  beyond  the  limits  of  the  art,  but 
"  penetrated  deeply  into  its  inmost  recesses.  He  who 
"  adheres  to  meanings,  thereby  betrays  his  dislike  of 
"the  inner  aspect  of  things  and  his  love  of  mere 
"  outward  appearance."  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that  Herbarth  refrained  from  prosecuting  these 
occasional  strictures  more  in  detail,  and  that  along 
with  these  brilliant  flashes  there  go  some  rather 
questionable  statements;  at  all  events,  we  shall 
presently  see  that  the  views  we  have  just  quoted 
failed  to  gain  the  regard  they  so  well  merited. 

Note.— Our  present  purpose,  we  think,  hardly 
makes  it  incumbent  on  us  to  mention  the  authors  of 
the  doctrines  which  it  is  our  object  to  disprove, 
these  doctrines  being  not  so  much  the  fruit  of  original 
speculation,  as  the  enunciation  of  traditional 
convictions  that  have  gained  great  popularity.  To 
show  how  deeply  these  doctrines  have  taken  root,  we 
will  select  some  examples  from  their  vast  number. 
The  following  emanate  from  the  pens  both  of  old 
and  modern  writers  on  music  : — 

Mattheson. — "  When  composing  a  melody,  our 
chief  aim  should  be  to  illustrate  a  certain  emotion 
(if  not  more  than  one)."  (Vollkomm.  Capellmeister, 
page  143.) 

Neidhardt. — "The  ultimate  aim  of  music  is  to 
rouse  all  the  passions  by  means  of  sound  and  rhythm, 
rivalling  the  most  eloquent  oration."  (Preface  to 
Temper  atnr.) 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  29 

J.  N.  Forkel  understands  "  figures  in  music,"' 
in  the  same  sense  as  in  poetry  or  rhetoric — 
namely,  "  as  the  expression  of  the  various  modes  in 
"  which  sensations  and  emotions  gain  utterance." 
(Ueber  die  Theorie  der  Musik"  Gottingen,  1777, 
page  26.) 

J.  Mosel  defines  music  as  "the  art  of  expressing 
certain  emotions  through  the  medium  of  system- 
atically combined  sounds." 

C.  F.  Michaelis. — "  Music  is  the  art  of  expressing 
sensations  by  modulated  sounds.  It  is  the  language 
of  emotion,"  &c.  (Ueber  den  Geist  der  Tonkunst, 
2nd  essay,  1800,  page  29.) 

Marpurg. — "  The  composer's  task  is  to  copy  nature 
.  .  .  to  stir  the  passions  at  will  ...  to 
express  the  living  movements  of  the  soul  and  the 
cravings  of  the  heart."  (Krit.  Musikus,  Vol.  I., 
i75°>  §  40-) 

W.  Heinse. — "  To  picture,  or  rather  to  rouse  the 
passions  is  the  chief  and  final  aim  of  music." 
(MusikaL  Dialoge,  1805,  page  30.) 

J.  J.  Engel. — "A  symphony,  a  sonata,  &c,  must 
be  the  representation  of  some  passion  developed  in 
a  variety  of  forms."  (Ueber  musik.  Malerei,  1780, 
page  29.) 

J.  Ph.  Kirnberger. — "A  melodious  phrase  (theme) 
is  a  phrase  taken  from  the  language  of  emotion. 
It  induces  in  a  sensitive  listener  the  same  state 
of  mind  which  gave  birth  to  it."  (Kunst  des  reinen 
Satzes,  Part  II.,  page  152.) 


30  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

Pierer's  Universallexicon  (2nd  edition). — "  Music 
is  the  art  of  expressing  sensations  and  states  of 
mind  by  means  of  pleasing  sounds.  It  is  superior 
to  poetry  because  the  latter  can  only  (!)  describe 
emotions  which  the  intellect  apprehends,  whereas 
music  expresses  vague  and  undefinable  emotions 
and  sensations." 

G.  Schilling's  Universallexicon  der  Tonhunst 
gives  a  similar  explanation  under  the  heading 
"  Musik." 

Koch  defines  music  as  "  the  art  of  suggesting  trains 
of  pleasurable  feelings  through  the  medium  of 
sound." 

A.  Andre. — "  Music  is  the  art  of  producing  sounds 
capable  of  expressing,  exciting,  and  sustaining 
feelings  and  passions."     (Lehrbuch  der  Tonkunst,  I.) 

Sulzer.— "  While  language  expresses  our  feelings 
in  words,  music  expresses  them  by  sounds." 
(Theorie  der  Schonen  Kiinste.) 

J.  W.  Bcehm. — "  Not  to  the  intellect  do  the  sweet 
strains  of  music  appeal,  but  to  our  emotional  faculty 
only."  (Analyse  des  Schonen  der  Musik,  Vienna, 
1830,  page  62.) 

Gottfried  Weber. — "Music  is  the  art  of  ex- 
pressing emotions  through  the  medium  of  sound." 
(Theorie  der  Tonsetzkunst,  2nd  edition,  Vol.  I., 
page  15.) 

F.  Hand. — "  Music  represents  emotions.  Each  feel- 
ing and  each  state  of  mind  has  its  own  inherent 
sound  and  rhythm,  and  these  have  their  objective 
counterpart  in  music."  (JEsthetik  der  Tonkunst, 
Vol.  I.,  1837,  §  24.) 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  $1 

Amadeus  autodidaktus. — "  Music  has  its  origin 
and  its  roots  in  the  world  of  sentiment  and  sensation. 
Musically  melodious  sounds  (!)  are  a  sealed  book 
to  the  intellect,  which  only  describes  and  analyzes 
sensations.  .  .  .  They  appeal  to  the  feelings," 
&c.  (Aphorismen  iiber  Musik,  Leipzig,  1847, 
page  329.) 

Fermo  Bellini. — "  Music  is  the  art  of  expressing 
sentiments  and  passions  through  the  medium  of 
sound."  {Manuale  di  Musica,  Milano,  Ricordi,  1853.) 

Friedrich  Thiersch. — Allgemeine  sEsthetik,  Berlin, 
1846,  §  18,  page  101  :  "  Music  is  the  art  of  ex- 
pressing, and  of  exciting  feelings  and  emotions  by 
groups  of  selected  sounds." 

A.  v.  Dommer. — Elemente  der  Musik,  Leipzig,  1862. 
"  The  object  of  Music  :  Music  is  to  awaken  our 
feelings,  and  these,  in  their  turn,  are  to  raise  up 
images  in  the  mind."     (Page  174.) 

Richard  Wagner. — Das  Kunstwerk  der  Zuhunft 
(1850,  Select  Works,  III.,  99 — similar  passages 
occurring  in  his  other  writings). — "  The  organ 
of  the  emotions  is  sound,  its  intentionally  aesthetic 
language  is  music."  In  Wagner's  later  writings 
his  definitions  become  still  more  obscure ;  music 
being  there  for  him  "  the  art  of  expression  in  the 
abstract "  ("  Oper  und  Drama,"  Coll.  Writings 
III.,  343),  which,  as  a  "conception  of  the  Uni« 
verse,"  he  deems  capable  of  "  comprehending  the 
essence  of  things  in  its  immediate  manifestation," 
&c.     ("  Beethoven,"  1870,  page  6,  &c.) 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  proposition  that  the  feelings  are  the  subject  which 
music  has  to  represent  is  due  partly  to  the  theory 
according  to  which  the  ultimate  aim  of  music  is  to 
excite  feelings,  and  partly  to  an  amended  form  of 
this  theory. 

A  philosophical  disquisition  into  an  art  demands  a 
clear  definition  of  its  subject-matter.  The  diversity  of 
the  subject-matter  of  the  various  arts  and  the 
fundamental  difference  in  the  mode  of  treatment,  are 
a  natural  sequence  of  the  dissimilarity  of  the  senses  to 
which  they  severally  appeal.  Every  art  comprises 
a  range  of  ideas,  which  it  expresses  after  its  own 
fashion,  in  sound,  language,  colour,  stone,  &c.  A 
work  of  art,  therefore,  endows  a  definite  conception 
with  a  material  form  of  beauty.  This  definite  con- 
ception, its  embodiment,  and  the  union  of  both,  are 
the  conditions  of  an  aesthetic  ideal,  with  which  a 
critical  examination  into  every  art  is  indissolubly 
connected. 

The  subject  of  a  poem,  a  painting,  or  statue  may  be 
expressed  in  words  and  reduced  to  ideas.  We  say, 
for  instance,  this  picture  represents  a  flower-girl,  this 
statue  a  gladiator,  this  poem  one  of  Roland's  exploits. 
Upon  the  more  or  less  perfect  embodiment  of  the 
particular  subject  in  the  artist's  production  depends 
our  verdict  respecting  the  beauty  of  the  work  of  art. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  33 

The  whole  gamut  of  human  feelings  has  with 
almost  complete  unanimity  been  proclaimed  to  be 
the  subject  of  music,  since  the  emotions  were  thought 
to  be  in  antithesis  to  the  definiteness  of  intellectual 
conceptions.  This  was  supposed  to  be  the  feature  by 
which  the  musical  ideal  is  distinguished  from  the  ideal 
of  the  other  fine  arts  and  poetry.  According  to  this 
theory,  therefore,  sound  and  its  ingenious  combinations 
are  but  the  material  and  the  medium  of  expression, 
by  which  the  composer  represents  love,  courage, 
piety,  and  delight.  The  innumerable  varieties  of 
emotion  constitute  the  idea  which,  on  being  trans- 
lated into  sound,  assumes  the  form  of  a  musical 
composition.  The  beautiful  melody  and  the  skilful 
harmony  as  such,  do  not  charm  us,  but  only  what 
they  imply :  the  whispering  oi'  love,  or  the  clamour 
of  ardent  combatants. 

In  order  to  escape  from  such  vague  notions,  we 
must,  first  of  all,  sever  from  their  habitual  associa- 
tions metaphors  of  the  above  description.  The 
whispering  may  be  expressed,  true ;  but  not  the 
whispering  of  "love  " ;  the  clamour  may  be  reproduced, 
undoubtedly ;  but  not  the  clamour  of  "  ardent 
combatants."  Music  may  reproduce  phenomena  such 
as  whispering,  storming,  roaring,  but  the  feelings  of 
love  or  anger  have  only  a  subjective  existence. 

Definite  feelings  and  emotions  are  unsusceptible 
of  being  embodied  in  music. 

Our  emotions  have  no  isolated  existence  in  the 
mind,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  evoked  by  an  art 
which  is  incapable  of  representing  the  remaining 
series  of  mental  states.     They  are,  on  the  contrary, 

c 


34  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

dependent  on  physiological  and  pathological  con- 
ditions, on  notions  and  judgments;  in  fact,  on  all 
the  processes  of  human  reasoning  which  so  many 
conceive  as  antithetical  to  the  emotions. 

What  then  transforms  an  indefinite  feeling  into  a 
definite  one — into  the  feeling  of  longing,  hope,  or 
love  ?  Is  it  the  mere  degree  of  intensity ;  the 
fluctuating  rate  of  inner  motion  ?  Assuredly  not. 
The  latter  may  be  the  same  in  the  case  of  dissimilar 
feelings,  or  may,  in  the  case  of  the  same  feeling, 
vary  with  the  time  and  the  person.  Only  by  virtue 
of  ideas  and  judgments — unconscious  though  we 
may  be  of  them  when  our  feelings  run  high — can  an 
indefinite  state  of  mind  pass  into  a  definite  feeling. 
The  feeling  of  hope  is  inseparable  from  the  con- 
ception of  a  happier  state  that  is  to  come,  and  which 
we  compare  with  the  actual  state.  The  feeling  of 
sadness  involves  the  notion  of  a  past  state  of 
happiness.  These  are  perfectly  definite  ideas  or 
conceptions,  and  in  default  of  them — the  apparatus  of 
thought,  as  it  were — no  feeling  can  be  called  "  hope" 
or  "  sadness,"  for  through  them  alone  can  a  feeling 
assume  a  definite  character.  On  excluding  these 
conceptions  from  consciousness,  nothing  remains  but 
a  vague  sense  of  motion  which  at  best  could  not 
rise  above  a  general  feeling  of  satisfaction  or  dis- 
comfort. The  feeling  of  love  cannot  be  conceived 
apart  from  the  image  of  the  beloved  being,  or  apart 
from  the  desire  and  the  longing  for  the  possession  of 
the  object  of  our  affections.  It  is  not  the  kind  of 
psychical  activity,  but  the  intellectual  substratum, 
the  subject  underlying  it,  which  constitutes  it  love, 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC.  35 

Dynamically  speaking,  love  may  be  gentle  or  im- 
petuous, buoyant  or  depressed,  and  yet  it  remains 
love.  This  reflection  alone  ought  to  make  it  clear 
that  music  can  express  only  those  qualifying 
adjectives,  and  not  the  substantive,  love,  itself.  A 
determinate  feeling  (a  passion,  an  emotion)  as  such, 
never  exists  without  a  definable  meaning,  which 
can,  of  course,  only  be  communicated  through  the 
medium  of  definite  ideas.  Now,  since  music  as  an 
**  indefinite  form  of  speech  "  is  admittedly  incapable 
of  expressing  definite  ideas,  is  it  not  a  psychologically 
unavoidable  conclusion,  that  it  is  likewise  incapable 
of  expressing  definite  emotions  ?  For  the  definite 
character  of  an  emotion  rests  entirely  on  the 
meaning  involved  in  it. 

How  it  is  that  music  may,  nevertheless,  awaken 
feelings  (though  not  necessarily  so)  such  as  sadness, 
joy,  &c,  we  shall  try  to  explain  hereafter,  when  we 
come  to  examine  music  from  a  subjective  point  of 
view.  At  this  stage  of  our  enquiry  it  is  enough  to 
determine  whether  music  is  capable  of  representing 
any  definite  emotion  whatever.  To  this  question 
only  a  negative  answer  can  be  given,  the  definiteness 
of  an  emotion  being  inseparably  connected  with 
concrete  notions  and  conceptions,  and  to  reduce 
these  to  a  material  form  is  altogether  beyond  the 
power  of  music.  A  certain  class  of  ideas,  however, 
is  quite  susceptible  of  being  adequately  expressed  by 
means  which  unquestionably  belong  to  the  sphere  of 
music  proper.  This  class  comprises  all  ideas  which, 
consistently  with  the  organ  to  which  they  appeal, 
are   associated   with   audible   changes   of   strength, 


30  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

motion,  and  ratio :  the  ideas  of  intensity  waxing  and 
diminishing  ;  of  motion  hastening  and  lingering  ;  of 
ingeniously  complex  and  simple  progression,  &c. 
The  aesthetic  expression  of  music  may  be  described 
by  terms  such  as  graceful,  gentle,  violent,  vigorous, 
elegant,  fresh  ;  all  these  ideas  being  expressible  by 
corresponding  modifications  of  sound.  We  may, 
therefore,  use  those  adjectives  as  directly  describing 
musical  phenomena,  without  thinking  of  the  ethical 
meanings  attaching  to  them  in  a  psychological  sense, 
and  which,  from  the  habit  of  associating  ideas,  we 
readily  ascribe  to  the  effect  of  the  music,  or  mistake 
even  for  purely  musical  properties. 

The  ideas  which  a  composer  expresses  are  mainly 
and  primarily  of  a  purely  musical  nature.  His 
imagination  conceives  a  definite  and  graceful  melody 
aiming  at  nothing  beyond  itself.  Every  concrete 
phenomenon  suggests  the  class  to  which  it  belongs, 
or  some  still  wider  conception  in  which  the  latter  is 
included,  and  by  continuing  this  process,  the  idea  of 
the  absolute  is  reached  at  last.  This  is  true  also  of 
musical  phenomena.  This  melodious  Adagio,  for 
instance,  softly  dying  away,  suggests  the  ideas  of 
gentleness  and  concord  in  the  abstract.  Our 
imaginative  faculty,  ever  ready  to  establish  relations 
between  the  conceptions  of  art  and  our  sentiments, 
may  construe  these  softly-ebbing  strains  of  music 
in  a  still  loftier  sense — e.g.,  as  the  placid  resignation 
of  a  mind  at  peace  with  itself,  and  they  may  rouse 
even  a  vague  sense  of  everlasting  rest. 

The  primary  aim  of  Poetry,  Sculpture,  and 
Painting  is  likewise  to  produce  some  concrete  image. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC.  tf 

Only  by  way  of  inference  can  the  picture  of  a  flower- 
girl  call  up  the  wider  notion  of  maidenly  content  and 
modesty  ;  the  picture  of  a  snow-covered  churchyard 
the  transitoriness  of  earthly  existence.  In  like 
manner,  but  far  more  vaguely  and  capriciously, 
may  the  listener  discover  in  a  piece  of  music  the  idea 
of  youthful  contentedness  or  that  of  transitoriness. 
These  abstract  notions,  however,  are  by  no  means  the 
subject-matter  of  the  pictures  or  the  musical 
compositions,  and  it  is  still  more  absurd  to  talk  as  if 
the  feelings  of  "transitoriness"  or  of  "youthful 
contentedness  "  could  be  represented  by  them. 

There  are  ideas  which,  though  not  occurring  as 
feelings,  are  yet  capable  of  being  fully  expressed  by 
music ;  and  conversely,  there  are  feelings  which 
affect  our  minds,  but  which  are  so  constituted  as  to 
defy  their  adequate  expression  by  any  ideas  which 
music  can  represent. 

What  part  of  the  feelings,  then,  can  music  re- 
present, if  not  the  subject  involved  in  them  ? 

Only  their  dynamic  properties.  It  may  reproduce 
the  motion  accompanying  psychical  action,  according 
to  its  momentum :  speed,  slowness,  strength,  weak- 
ness, increasing  and  decreasing  intensity.  But 
motion  is  only  one  of  the  concomitants  of  feeling, 
not  the  feeling  itself.  It  is  a  popular  fallacy  to 
suppose  that  the  descriptive  power  of  music  is 
sufficiently  qualified  by  saying  that,  although  in- 
capable of  representing  the  subject  of  a  feeling,  it  may 
represent  the  feeling  itself — not  the  object  of  love, 
but  the  "  feeling  of  love."  In  reality,  however, 
music  can  do  neither.  It  cannot  reproduce  the  feeling 


38  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

of  love,  but  only  the  element  of  motion,  and  this  may 
occur  in  any  other  feeling  just  as  well  as  in  love,  and 
in  no  case  is  it  the  distinctive  feature.  The  term 
"  love  "  is  as  abstract  as  "  virtue  "  or  "  immortality," 
and  it  is  quite  superfluous  to  assure  us  that  music  is 
unable  to  express  abstract  notions.  No  art  can  do 
this,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  course  that  only  definite 
and  concrete  ideas  (those  that  have  assumed  a  living 
form,  as  it  were)  can  be  incorporated  by  an  art.* 
But  no  instrumental  composition  can  describe  the 
ideas  of  love,  wrath,  or  fear,  since  there  is  no  causal 
nexus  between  these  ideas  and  certain  combinations 
of  sound.  Which  of  the  elements  inherent  in  these 
ideas,  then,  does  music  turn  to  account  so  effectually  ? 
Only  the  element  of  motion — in  the  wider  sense,  of 
course,  according  to  which  the  increasing  and 
decreasing  force  of  a  single  note  or  chord  is 
"motion"  also.  This  is  the  element  which  music 
has  in  common  with  our  emotions,  and  which,  with 
creative  power,  it  contrives  to  exhibit  in  an  endless 
variety  of  forms  and  contrasts. 

Though  the  idea  of  motion  appears  to  us  a  most 
far-reaching  and  important  one,  it  has  hitherto  been 
conspicuously  disregarded  in  all  enquiries  into  the 
nature  and  action  of  music. 

Whatever  else  there  is  in  music  that  apparently 
pictures  states  of  feeling,  is  symbolical. 


*  Vischer  (Aesth.,  §  11,  Note)  defines  determinate  ideas  as  the 
domains  of  life,  provided  that  the  corresponding  realities  be  assumed 
to  agree  with  our  conceptions.  For  conception  always  denotes  the 
pure  and  faultless  image  of  the  reality. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL  IN    MUSIC.  39 

Sounds,  like  colours,  are  originally  associated  in 
our  minds  with  certain  symbolical  meanings,  which 
produce  their  effects  independently  of,  and  ante- 
cedently to  any  design  of  art.  Every  colour  has  a 
character  of  its  own  ;  it  is  not  a  mere  cipher  into 
which  the  artist  blows  the  breath  of  life,  but  a  force. 
Between  it  and  certain  states  of  mind  Nature  herself 
has  established  a  sympathetic  connection.  Are  we 
not  all  acquainted  with  the  unsophisticated  meanings 
of  colours,  so  dear  to  the  popular  imagination,  and 
which  cultured  minds  have  exalted  into  poetic  re- 
finement ?  Green  is  associated  with  a  feeling  of 
hope,  blue  with  fidelity.  Rosenkranz  recognises 
"  graceful  dignity  "  in  orange,  "philistine  politeness" 
in  violet,  &c.  ("  Psychologie,"  2nd  edition,  page  102.) 

In  like  manner,  the  first  elements  of  music,  such 
as  the  various  keys,  chords,  and  "  timbres,"  have 
severally  a  character  of  their  own.  There  exists,  in 
fact,  a  but  too  ready  art  of  interpreting  the  meanings 
of  musical  elements.  Schubart's  symbolism  of  the 
keys  in  music  forms  a  counterpart,  as  it  were,  to 
Goethe's  interpretation  of  colours.  Such  elements 
(sounds,  colours),  however,  when  employed  for  the 
purposes  of  art,  are  subject  to  laws  quite  distinct 
from  those  upon  which  the  effect  of  their  isolated 
action  depends.  When  looking  at  a  historical 
painting  we  should  never  think  of  construing  the  red 
appearing  in  it  as  always  meaning  joy,  or  the  white 
as  always  meaning  innocence.  Just  as  little  in  a 
symphony  would  the  key  of  A  flat  major  always 
awaken  romantic  feelings,  or  the  key  of  B  minor 
always  misanthropic  ones,  every  triad  a  feeling  of 


40  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

satisfaction,  and  every  diminished  seventh  a  feeling 
of  despair.  yEstheticaily  speaking,  such  primordially 
distinctive  traits  are  non-existent  when  viewed  by 
the  light  of  those  wider  laws  to  which  they  are 
subordinate.  The  relation  in  question  cannot,  for  a 
moment,  be  assumed  to  express  or  represent  anything 
definite  whatsoever.  We  called  it  "  symbolical " 
because  the  subject  is  exhibited  not  directly,  but  in  a 
form  essentially  different  from  it.  If  yellow  is  the 
emblem  of  jealousy,  the  key  of  G  major  that  of 
gaiety,  the  cypress  that  of  mourning,  such  inter- 
pretations, and  the  definite  character  of  our  emotions, 
imply  a  psycho-physiological  relation.  The  colour, 
the  sound,  or  the  plant  as  such,  are  not  related  to 
our  emotions,  but  only  the  meanings  we  ourselves 
attach  to  them.  We  cannot,  therefore,  speak  of  an 
isolated  chord  as  representing  a  determinate  feeling, 
and  much  less  can  we  do  so  when  it  occurs  in  a 
connected  piece  of  music. 

Beyond  the  analogy  of  motion,  and  the  sym- 
bolism of  sounds,  music  possesses  no  means  for 
fulfilling  its  alleged  mission. 

Seeing  then  how  easy  it  is  to  deduce  from  the 
inherent  nature  of  sound  the  inability  of  music  to 
represent  definite  emotions,  it  seems  almost  in- 
credible that  our  every-day  experience  should, 
nevertheless,  have  failed  to  firmly  establish  this 
fact.  Let  those  who,  when  listening  to  some  in- 
strumental composition,  imagine  the  strings  to 
quiver  with  a  profusion  of  feeling,  clearly  show 
what  feeling  is  the  subject  of  the  music.  The 
experiment  is  indispensable.      If,  for  instance,  we 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  41 

were  to  listen  to  Beethoven's  Overture  to  "  Pro- 
metheus," an  attentive  and  musical  ear  would 
successively  discover  more  or  less  the  following : 
the  notes  of  the  first  bar,  after  a  fall  into  the  lower 
fourth,  rise  gently  and  in  rapid  succession ;  a  move- 
ment repeated  in  the  second  bar.  The  third  and 
fourth  bars  continue  it  in  wider  limits.  The  jet 
propelled  by  the  fountain  comes  trickling  down  in 
drops,  but  rises  once  more,  only  to  repeat  in  the 
following  four  bars  the  figure  of  the  preceding  four. 
The  listener  thus  perceives  that  the  first  and  second 
bars  of  the  melody  are  symmetrical ;  that  these  two 
bars  and  the  succeeding  two  are  likewise  so,  and  that 
the  same  is  true  of  the  wider  arc  of  the  first  four 
bars  and  the  corresponding  arc  of  the  following  four. 
The  bass  which  indicates  the  rhythm  marks  the 
beginning  of  each  of  the  first  three  bars  with  one 
single  beat,  the  fourth  with  two  beats,  while  the 
same  rotation  is  observed  in  the  next  four  bars. 
The  fourth  bar,  therefore,  is  different  from  the  first 
three,  and  this  point  of  difference  becoming  sym- 
metrical, through  being  repeated  in  the  following 
four  bars,  agreeably  impresses  the  ear,  as  an  un- 
expected development  within  the  former  limits. 
The  harmony  of  the  theme  exhibits  the  same  cor- 
respondence of  one  large  and  two  small  arcs :  the 
common  chord  of  C  of  the  first  four  bars  corresponds 
to  the  chord  of  %  of  the  fifth  and  sixth,  and  to  the 
chord  of  %  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  bars.  This 
systematic  correspondence  of  melody,  rhythm,  and 
harmony  results  in  a  structure  composed  of  parts  at 
once  symmetrical  and  dissimilar,  into  which  further 


42 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 


gradations  of  light  and  shade  are  introduced  through 
the  "  timbre"  peculiar  to  each  instrument  and  the 
varying  volume  of  sound  : — 


Viol.  I. 


Viol.  II. 

Viola. 

Basii. 


sai 


' 


Any  other  subject  than  the  one  alluded  to  we 
absolutely  fail  to  find  in  the  theme,  and  still  less 
could  we  mention  a  feeling  it  represents,  or  necessarily 
arouses  in  the  listener.  An  analysis  of  this  kind 
reduces,  it  is  true,  to  a  skeleton,  a  body  glowing  with 
life  ;  it  destroys  the  beauty,  but  at  the  same  time  it 
destroys  all  false  constructions. 

No  other  theme  of  instrumental  music  will  fare  any 
better  than  the  one  which  we  have  selected  at  random. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IX    MUSIC.  43 

A  numerous  class  of  lovers  of  music  think  that  it 
is  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  older  "  classical  '* 
music  only,  to  disregard  the  representation  of  feelings, 
and  it  is  at  once  admitted  that  no  feeling  can  be 
shown  to  form  the  subject  of  the  forty-eight  Preludes 
and  Fugues  of  J.  S.  Bach's  "  well-tempered  clavi- 
chord." However  glaringly  unscientific  and  arbitrary 
such  a  distinction  may  be — a  distinction,  by  the  way, 
which  has  its  explanation  in  the  fact  that  the  older 
music  affords  still  more  unmistakable  proof  that  it 
aims  at  nothing  beyond  itself,  and  that  interpre- 
tations of  the  kind  mentioned  would,  in  this  case, 
present  more  obstacles  than  attractions — this  alone 
is  enough  to  prove  that  music  need  not  necessarily 
awaken  feelings,  or  that  it  must  necessarily  be  the 
object  of  music  to  represent  them.  The  whole 
domain  of  florid  counterpoint  would  then  have  to  be 
ignored.  But  if  large  departments  of  art,  which  can 
be  defended  both  on  historical  and  aesthetic  grounds, 
have  to  be  passed  over  for  the  sake  of  a  theory,*  it 
may  be  concluded  that  such  a  theory  is  false. 
Though  a  single  leak  will  sink  a  ship,  those  who  are 
not  content  with  that,  are  at  liberty  to  knock  out  the 
whole  bottom.  Let  them  play  the  theme  of  a 
Symphony  by  Mozart  or  Haydn,  an  Adagio  by 
Beethoven,  a  Scherzo  by  Mendelssohn,  one  of 
Schumann's     or    Chopin's     compositions     for    the 


*  Disciples  of  Bach,  such  as  Spitta,  attempt  to  remove  the  difficulty, 
not  indeed  by  questioning  the  theory  itself,  but  by  ascribing  to  hi^ 
fugues  and  chords  an  emotional  element,  as  eloquent  and  positive  as 
the  most  ardent  admirer  of  Beethoven  ever  detected  in  the  latter's. 
Sonatas.     This  is  consistent,  at  all  events ! 


44  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

piano,  anything,  in  short,  from  the  stock  of  our 
standard  music ;  or  again,  the  most  popular  themes 
from  Overtures  of  Auber,  Donizetti,  and  Flotow.  Who 
would  be  bold  enough  to  point  out  a  definite  feeling 
as  the  subject  of  any  of  these  themes  ?  One  will  say 
"  love."  He  may  be  right.  Another  thinks  it  is 
""longing."  Perhaps  so.  A  third  feels  it  to  be 
"religious  fervour."  Who  can  contradict  .  him  ? 
Now,  how  can  we  talk  of  a  definite  feeling  being 
represented,  when  nobody  really  knows  what  is 
represented  ?  Probably  all  will  agree  about  the 
beauty  or  beauties  of  the  composition,  whereas  all 
will  differ  regarding  its  subject.  To  represent  some- 
thing is  to  clearly  exhibit  it ;  to  distinctly  set  it 
before  us.  But  how  can  we  call  that  the  subject 
represented  by  an  art,  which  is  really  its  vaguest  and 
most  indefinite  element,  and  which  must,  therefore, 
for  ever  remain  highly  debatable  ground? 

We  have  intentionally  selected  examples  from 
instrumental  music,  for  only  what  is  true  of  the  latter 
is  true  also  of  music  as  such.  If  we  wish  to  decide 
the  question  whether  music  possesses  the  character 
of  definiteness,  what  its  nature  and  properties  are, 
and  what  its  limits  and  tendencies,  no  other  than 
instrumental  music  can  be  taken  into  consideration. 
What  instrumental  music  is  unable  to  achieve,  lies 
also  beyond  the  pale  of  music  proper ;  for  it  alone  is 
pure  and  self-subsistent  music.  No  matter  whether 
we  regard  vocal  music  as  superior  to,  or  more 
effective  than  instrumental  music — an  unscientific 
proceeding,  by  the  way,  which  is  generally  the 
upshot    of  one-sided  dilettantism — we   cannot   help 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC.  45 

admitting  that  the  term  "  music,"  in  its  true 
meaning,  must  exclude  compositions  in  which  words 
are  set  to  music.  In  vocal  or  operatic  music  it  is 
impossible  to  draw  so  nice  a  distinction  between  the 
effect  of  the  music,  and  that  of  the  words,  that  an 
exact  definition  of  the  share  which  each  has  had  in 
the  production  of  the  whole  becomes  practicable. 
An  enquiry  into  the  subject  of  music  must  leave  out 
even  compositions  with  inscriptions,  or  so-called 
programme-music.  Its  union  with  poetry,  though 
enhancing  the  power  of  music,  does  not  widen  its 
limits.* 


*  Gervinus  in  his  work  "  Handel  und  Shakespeare  "  (1868)  has  re- 
opened the  controversy  respecting  the  superiority  of  vocal  over 
instrumental  music ;  but  when  he  calls  "  vocal  music,"  "  true  and 
genuine  music,"  and  "  instrumental  music  "  a  product  of  art  which 
has  "lost  the  spirit  of  life  and  has  degenerated  into  a  mere  out- 
ward display,"  a  physical  agent  for  the  production  of  physiological 
stimuli,  he  affords  the  proof,  all  his  ingenuity  notwithstanding,  that  a 
learned  Handel-enthusiast  may,  at  the  same  time,  fall  into  the 
most  singular  errors  in  regard  to  the  true  nature  of  music.  Nobody 
has  ever  exposed  these  fallacies  more  plainly  than  Ferdinand  Hiller, 
from  whose  critique  on  Gervinus'  work  we  select  the  following 
notable  passages: — "  The  union  of  word  and  sound  may  be  of  many 
'•  different  kinds.  What  a  variety  of  combinations  lie  between  the 
"  most  simple  and  almost  spoken  recitative  and  a  chorus  of  Bach  or 
41  a  Finale  in  one  of  Mozart's  operas  !  But  words  and  music  affect 
"  the  listener  with  equal  force  only  in  the  recitative,  whether  occur- 
'■  ring  by  itself,  or  as  a  mere  exclamation  in  the  midst  of  a  song. 
"  Whenever  music  steps  forth  in  its  true  character,  it  leaves  language, 
"  potent  language,  far  behind.  The  reason  {unfortunately,  one  feels 
••  almost  tempted  to  say)  is  not  far  to  seek.  Even  the  most  wretched 
"  poem,  when  set  to  beautiful  music,  can  scarcely  lessen  the  enjoy- 
li  ment  to  be  derived  from  the  latter,  whereas  the  most  exquisite 
"  poetry  fails  to  compensate  for  dulness  in  the  musical  part.  How 
'•  slender  is  the  interest  which  the  words  of  an  Oratorio  excite — it  is 
*'  difficult  to  comprehend  how  the  gifted  composer  could  ever  extract 


46  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

Vocal  music  is  an  undecomposable  compound, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  gauge  the  relative  importance 
of  each  of  its  constituents.  In  discussing  the  effect 
of  poetry,  nobody,  surely,  will  quote  the  opera  as  an 
example.  Now,  it  requires  a  greater  effort,  but  no 
deeper  insight,  to  follow  the  same  line  of  thought 
when  the  fundamental  principles  of  musical 
aesthetics  are  in  question. 

Vocal  music  colours,  as  it  were,  the  poetic 
drawing.*     In  the  musical  elements  we  were  able  to 


*'  from  them  the  material  for  music  that  fascinates  our  hearts  and 
*'  minds  for  hours  together.  Nay,  we  go  still  farther,  and  maintain 
41  that  the  listener  as  a  rule  is  quite  unable  to  grasp  both  the  words 
*'  and  the  music  at  the  same  time.  The  conventional  sounds  which 
"  go  to  build  up  a  sentence  in  speech  must  be  united  in  rapid 
■"  succession,  so  that  our  memory  may  hold  them  together,  while 
*•  they  reach  the  intellect.  Music,  on  the  other  hand,  impresses  the 
*'  listener  with  the  first  note  and  carries  him  away  without  giving  him 
*'  the  time,  nay,  the  possibility,  of  reverting  to  what  he  has  just 
*•  heard.  .  .  .  Whether  we  listen  to  the  most  simple  Volks- 
*'  lied,"  Hiller  continues,  "  or  are  overpowered  by  Handel's  Hallelujah 
*'  Chorus,  sung  by  a  thousand  voices,  our  delight  and  enthusiasm  are 
"  due,  in  the  former  case,  to  the  melodious  bud  that  has  hardly  yet 
"  expanded  into  a  flower;  in  the  latter,  to  the  power  and  grandeur  of 
"  the  combined  elements  of  a  whole  universe  of  sound.  The  fact 
"  that  one  treats  of  a  sweetheart,  the  other  of  a  world  of  bliss,  in  no 
"  way  helps  to  produce  the  primary  and  instantaneous  effect.  For 
*•  this  effect  is  a  purely  musical  one  and  would  be  produced  even 
*'  though  we  did  not,  or  could  not  understand  the  words."  (Aus  (km 
Tonhben  unscrcr  Zcit,  Nate  Folgc  (Leipzig,  1871),  page  40,  &c. 

*  This  well-known  figure  of  speech  is  relevant  only  so  long  as 
nothing  but  the  abstract  relations  between  music  and  words  are 
referred  to,  quite  irrespective  of  asthetic  requirements,  and  when  the 
only  point  to  be  settled  is  on  which  of  these  two  factors  the  exact 
and  definite  meaning  of  the  subject  depends.  It  ceases,  however,  to 
lie  appropriate  when  the  point  at  issue  is,  not  this  abstract  relation, 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  47 

discover  the  most  brilliant  and  delicate  hues,  and  an 
abundance  of  symbolic  meanings.  Though  by  their 
aid  it  might  be  possible  to  transform  a  second-rate 
poem  into  a  passionate  effusion  of  the  soul,  it  is  not 
the  music,  but  the  words  which  determine  the  subject 
of  a  vocal  composition.  Not  the  colouring,  but  the 
drawing  renders  the  represented  subject  intelligible. 
We  appeal  to  the  listener's  faculty  of  abstraction, 
and  beg  him  to  think,  in  a  purely  musical  sense,  of 
some  dramatically  effective  melody,  apart  from  the 
context.  A  melody,  for  instance,  which  impresses 
us  as  highly  dramatic,  and  which  is  intended  to 
represent  the  feeling  of  rage,  can  express  this  state 
of  mind  in  no  other  way  than  by  quick  and  impetuous 


but  the  mode  in  which  the  musical  material  is  manipulated.  Only 
in  a  logical  (one  might  almost  say  "judicial  ")  sense  can  the  words 
be  said  to  be  the  essence,  and  music  a  mere  accessory.  The  esthetic 
demands  on  the  composer  are  of  a  far  loftier  kind  and  can  only  be 
satisfied  by  purely  musical  beauty  (suited,  of  course,  to  the  words). 
When,  therefore,  we  have  not  to  establish  in  the  abstract  what  music 
does  on  being  joined  to  words,  but  how  it  ought  to  set  about  in  actual 
experience,  we  must  above  all  beware  of  making  it  the  handmaid  of 
poetry  and  thus  make  it  move  within  the  narrow  limits  which  the 
drawer  sets  to  the  colourist.  Ever  since  Gluck,  during  the  great  and 
salutary  reaction  against  the  melodious  exaggerations  of  the  Italian 
School,  retreated  even  beyond  the  golden  mean  (just  as  Richard 
Wagner  has  done  in  our  own  days),  the  saying  that  the  words  are  the 
"correct  and  well-sketched  drawing"  which  music  has  but  to  colour 
(a  remark  which  occurs  in  the  dedication  to  "Alceste")  has  been 
repeated  ad  nauseam.  If  music  is  to  poetry  no  more  than  the 
mere  colourist — if  in  its  dual  capacity  of  drawer  and  colourist  it  fails 
to  contribute  something  entirely  new,  which  by  the  inherent  power  of 
its  beauty  sends  forth  living  shoots  of  its  own  and  reduces  the  words 
to  a  mere  framework,  then  it  has  reached  at  best  the  level  of  a 
student's  exercise  or  an  amateur's  standard  of  excellence,  but  not  the 
sublime  height  of  true  art. 


4S 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC. 


motion.  Words  expressing  passionate  love,  though 
diametrically  opposed  in  meaning,  might,  therefore, 
be  suitably  rendered  by  the  same  melody. 

At  a  time  when  thousands  (among  whom  there 
were  men  like  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau)  were  moved 
to  tears  by  the  air  from  "  Orpheus  " — 

"  J'ai  perdu  mon  Eurydice, 
Rien  n'egale  mon  malheur,*' 

Boye\    a   contemporary    of     Gluck,    observed    that 

precisely  the  same  melody  would  accord  equally  well, 

if  not  better,    with    words   conveying  exactly   the 

reverse,  thus — 

"J'ai  trouve  mon  Eurydice, 
Rien  n'egale  mon  bonheur." 

The  following  is  the  beginning  of  the  Aria  in 
question,  which,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  we  give  with 
piano  accompaniment,  but  in  all  other  respects 
exactly  as  the  original  Italian  score : — 

Okfeo. 

Vivace. 


3jB^z^=|E^§^ 


S*:zz^i= 


m 


Che  fa  -  ro  sen-za  Eu-ri  -  di-ce!     do-ve  an-dro  sen-za  il  mio 


p*± 


m 


:13*=* 


— p — \0  =** — *  i     i  — -^  |^— 


ben !  che     fa     -     ro,  do-ve  an  -  dio ;        che  fa  - 


^s^mm^m^f^^ 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC 


49 


-    dro 


sen      -     za    il      mio  ben. 


fflR=*= 


^>— r=t= 


We,  for  our  part,  are  not  of  opinion  that  in  this 
case  the  composer  is  quite  free  from  blame,  inas- 
much as  music  most  assuredly  possesses  accents 
which  more  truly  express  a  feeling  of  profound  sorrow. 
If,  however,  from  among  innumerable  instances,  we 
selected  the  one  quoted,  we  have  done  so,  because,  in 
the  first  place,  it  affects  the  composer  who  is  credited 
with  the  greatest  dramatic  accuracy ;  and,  secondly, 
because  several  generations  hailed  this  very  melody 
as  most  correctly  rendering  the  supreme  grief  which 
the  words  express. 

But  even  far  more  definite  and  expressive  passages 
from  vocal  music,  when  considered  apart  from  the 
text,  enable  us  at  best  to  guess  the  feeling  they 
are  intended  to  convey.  They  resemble  a  silhouette, 
the  original  of  which  we  recognise  only  after  being 
told  whose  likeness  it  is. 

What  is  true  of  isolated  passages  is  true  also  in  a 
wider  application.     There  are  many  cases  where  an 

D 


£0  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

entirely  new  text  has  been  employed  for  a  complete 
musical  work.  If  Meyerbeer's  "  Huguenots,"  after 
changing  the  scene  of  action,  the  time,  the 
characters,  and  the  plot,  were  to  be  performed  as 
"The  Ghibcllines  of  Pisa,"  though  so  clumsy  an 
adaptation  would,  undoubtedly,  produce  a  dis- 
agreeable impression,  the  purely  musical  part  would 
in  no  way  suffer.  And  yet  the  religious  feeling  and 
fanaticism  which  are  entirely  wanting  in  "  The 
Ghibellines"  are  supposed  to  be  the  motive  power  in 
"  The  Huguenots."  Luther's  hymn  must  not  be 
cited  as  counter-evidence,  as  it  is  merely  a  quotation. 
From  a  musical  point  of  view  it  consists  with  any 
profession  of  faith  whatever.  Has  the  reader  ever 
heard  the  Allegro  fugato  from  the  Overture  to 
"The  Magic  Flute"  changed  into  a  vocal  quartet 
of  quarrelling  Jewish  pedlars?  Mozart's  music, 
though  not  altered  in  the  smallest  degree,  fits  the  low 
text  appallingly  well,  and  the  enjoyment  we  derive 
from  the  gravity  of  the  music  in  the  opera  can  be  no 
heartier  than  our  laugh  at  the  farcical  humour  of  the 
parody.  We  might  quote  numberless  instances  ot 
the  plastic  character  of  every  musical  theme  and 
every  human  emotion.  The  feeling  of  religious 
fervour  is  rightly  considered  to  be  the  least  liable  to 
musical  misconstruction.  Yet  there  are  countless 
village  and  country  churches  in  Germany  in  which 
at  Eucharist  pieces  like  Proch's  "Alpine  Horn," 
or  the  Finale  from  the  "  Sonnambula "  (with 
the  coquettish  leap  to  the  tenth)  are  performed 
on  the  organ.  Foreigners  who  visit  churches  in  Italy 
hear,  to  their  amazement,  the  most  popular  themes 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  51 

from  operas  by  Rossini,  Bellini,  Donizetti,  and  Verdi. 
Pieces  like  these  and  of  a  still  more  secular  char- 
acter, provided  they  do  not  lose  the  quality  of 
sobriety  altogether,  are  far  from  interfering  with 
the  devotions  of  the  congregation,  who,  on  the 
contrary,  appear  to  be  greatly  edified.  If  music,  as 
such,  were  capable  of  representing  the  feeling  of 
piety,  a  quid  pro  quo  of  this  kind  would  be  as  un- 
likely as  the  contingency  of  a  preacher  reciting  from 
the  pulpit  a  novel  by  Tieck  or  an  Act  of  Parliament. 
The  greatest  masters  of  sacred  music  afford  abun- 
dant examples  in  proof  of  our  proposition.  Handel, 
in  particular,  set  to  work  with  the  greatest  noncha- 
lance in  this  respect.  Winterfeld  has  shown  that 
many  of  the  most  celebrated  airs  from  "  The 
Messiah,"  including  those  most  of  all  admired  as 
being  especially  suggestive  of  piety,  have  been 
taken  from  secular  duets  (mostly  erotic)  composed 
in  the  years  1711-1712,  when  Handel  set  to  music 
certain  Madrigals  by  Mauro  Ortensio  for  the  Electoral 
Princess  Caroline  of  Hanover.  The  music  of  the 
second  duet : 

"  No,  di  voi  non  vo'  fidarmi, 
Cieco  amor,  crude]  bclta; 
Troppo  siete  mcnzognere 
Lusinghiere  deita !  " 

Handel  employed  unaltered  both  in  key  and  melody 
for  the  chorus  in  the  first  part  of  "  The  Messiah," 
"  For  unto  us  a  Child  is  born."  The  third  part  of 
the  same  duet,  "  So  per  prova  i  vostri  inganni," 
contains  the  same  themes  which  occur  in  the  chorus 
of  the  second  part  of  "  The  Messiah,"  "AH  we  JJke 


52  THE    BEAUTIFUL    IX    MUSIC. 

sheep."  The  music  of  the  Madrigal,  No.  16  (duet 
for  soprano  and  alto),  is  essentially  the  same  as  the 
duet  from  the  third  part  of  "  The  Messiah,"  "  Oh 
death,  where  is  thy  sting?  "  But  the  words  of  the 
madrigal  are  as  follows  : 

"  Se  tu  non  lasci  atnore 
Mio  cor,  ti  pentirai 

Lo  so  ben  io  !  " 

There  is  a  vast  number  of  similar  instances,  but 
we  need  here  only  refer  to  the  entire  series  of 
pastoral  pieces  from  the  "  Christmas "  Oratorio, 
which,  as  is  well  known,  were  naively  taken  from 
secular  cantatas  composed  for  special  occasions. 
And  Gluck,  whose  music,  we  are  taught,  attained 
the  sublime  height  of  dramatic  accuracy,  only  by 
everv  note  being  scrupulously  adapted  to  each 
special  case,  nay,  by  the  melodies  being  extracted 
from  the  very  rhythm  of  the  syllables — Gluck  has 
transferred  to  his  "  Armida  "  no  fewer  than  five  airs 
from  his  earlier  Italian  operas  (compare  with  the 
author's  "  Moderne  Oper,"  page  16).  It  is  obvious, 
therefore,  that  vocal  music,  which  in  theory  can 
never  determine  the  principles  of  music  proper,  is 
likewise,  in  practice,  powerless  to  call  in  question 
the  canons  which  experience  has  established  for 
instrumental  music. 

The  proposition  which  we  are  endeavouring  to 
disprove  has  become,  as  it  were,  part  and  parcel  of 
current  musical  aesthetics,  so  that  all  derivative  and 
collateral  theories  enjoy  the  same  reputation  of 
invulnerability.  To  the  latter  belongs  the  theory 
that  music  is  able  to  reproduce  visual  and  auditory 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  53 

impressions  of  a  non-musical  nature.  Whenever  the 
question  of  the  representation  of  objects  by  musical 
means  (Tonmalerei)  is  under  debate,  we  are,  with  an 
air  of  wisdom,  assured  over  and  over  again  that 
though  music  is  unable  to  portray  phenomena  which 
are  foreign  to  its  province,  it,  nevertheless,  may 
picture  the  feeling  which  they  excite.  The  very 
reverse  is  the  case.  Music  can  undertake  to  imitate 
objective  phenomena  only,  and  never  the  specific 
feeling .  they  arouse.  The  falling  of  snow,  the 
fluttering  of  birds,  and  the  rising  of  the  sun  can  be 
painted  musically  only,  by  producing  auditory  im- 
pressions which  are  dynamically  related  to  those 
phenomena.  In  point  of  strength,  pitch,  velocity, 
and  rhythm,  sounds  present  to  the  ear  a  figure, 
bearing  that  degree  of  analogy  to  certain  visual 
impressions  which  sensations  of  various  kinds  bear 
to  one  another.  As  there  is,  physiologically  speaking, 
such  a  thing  as  a  vicarious  function  (up  to  a  certain 
point),  so  may  sense-impressions,  aesthetically 
speaking,  become  vicarious  also.  There  is  a  well- 
founded  analogy  between  motion  in  space  and  motion 
in  time,  between  the  colour,  texture,  and  size  of  an 
object  and  the  pitch,  "timbre,"  and  strength  of  a 
tone,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  quite  practicable  to 
paint  an  object  musically.  The  pretension,  however, 
to  describe  by  musical  means  the  "feeling*'  which 
the  falling  snow,  the  crowing  cock,  or  a  flash  of 
lightning  excites  in  us,  is  simply  ludicrous. 

Although,  as  far  as  we  remember,  all  musical 
theorists  tacitly  accept,  and  base  their  arguments 
on   the   postulate,    that    music    has   the    power  of 


54  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

representing  definite  emotions — yet,  their  better  judg- 
ment has  kept  them  from  openly  avowing  it.  The 
conspicuous  absence  of  definite  ideas  in  music  troubled 
their  minds  and  induced  them  to  lay  down  the  some- 
what modified  principle  that  the  object  of  music 
was  to  awaken  and  represent  "  indefinite,"  not 
definite  emotions.  Rationally  understood,  this  can 
only  mean  that  music  ought  to  deal  with  the  motion 
accompanying  a  feeling,  regardless  of  its  essential 
part,  with  what  is  felt ;  in  other  words,  that  its 
function  is  restricted  to  the  reproduction  of  what 
we  termed  the  dynamic  element  of  an  emotion,  a 
function  which  we  unhesitatingly  conceded  to  music. 
But  this  property  does  not  enable  music  "  to 
represent  indefinite  feelings,"  for  to  "  represent " 
something  "  indefinite  "  is  a  contradiction  in 
terms.  Psychical  motion,  considered  as  motion 
apart  from  the  state  of  mind  it  involves,  can 
never  become  the  object  of  an  art,  because  without 
an  answer  to  the  query:  what  is  moving,  or  what 
is  being  moved,  an  art  has  nothing  tangible  to 
work  upon.  That  which  is  implied  in  the 
proposition — namely,  that  music  is  not  intended  to 
represent  a  definite  feeling  (which  is  undoubtedly 
true)  is  only  a  negative  aspect  of  the  question.  But 
what  is  the  positive,  the  creative  factor,  in  a  musical 
composition  ?  An  indefinite  feeling  as  such,  cannot 
supply  a  subject ;  to  utilise  it,  an  art  would,  first  of 
all,  have  to  solve  the  problem  :  What  form  can  be 
given  to  it  ?  The  function  of  art  consists  in  in- 
dividualising, in  evolving  the  definite  out  of  the 
indefinite,  the  particular  out  of  the  general.     The 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC.  55 

theory  respecting  "  indefinite  feelings"  would  reverse 
this  process.  It  lands  us  in  even  greater  difficulties 
than  the  theory  that  music  represents  something, 
though  it  is  impossible  to  define  what.  This  position 
is  but  a  step  removed  from  the  clear  recognition  that 
music  represents  no  feelings,  either  definite  or 
indefinite.  Yet,  where  is  the  musician  who  would 
deprive  his  art  of  that  domain  which  from  time 
immemorial  has  been  claimed  as  belonging  to  it  ?* 

This  conclusion  might  give  rise  to  the  view  that 
the  representation  of  definite  feelings  by  music, 
though  impracticable,  may  yet  be  adopted  as  an 
ideal,  never  wholly  realisable,  but  which  it  is  possible, 
and  even  necessary,  to  approach  more  and  more 
closely.  The  many  high-sounding  phrases  respecting 
the  tendency  of  music  to  cast  off  its  vagueness  and 
to  become  concrete  speech,  no  less  than  the  fulsome 
praises  bestowed  on  compositions  aiming,  or  supposed 
to  be  aiming  at  this,  are  a  proof  of  the  popularity  of 
the  theory  in  question. 

Having  absolutely  denied  the  possibility  of  re- 
presenting emotions  by  musical  means,  we  must  be 


*  What  absurdities  arise  from  the  fallacy,  which  makes  us  look  in 
every  piece  of  music  for  the  expression  of  definite  feelings  or  from 
the  still  greater  misconception  of  establishing  a  causal  nexus  between 
certain  forms  of  music  and  certain  feelings,  may  be  gleaned  from  the 
works  of  so  keen-witted  a  man  as  Mattheson.  Arguing  from  his 
doctrine  that  our  principal  aim  when  composing  a  "  melody  should  be 
the  expression  of  an  emotion,"  he  says  in  his  "  Vollkommener 
Capellmeistcr"  (page  230,  &c.) :  "A  Couranto  should  convey  hope- 
fulness." "  The  Saraband  has  to  express  no  other  feeling  than 
awe."  "  Voluptuousness  reigns  supreme  in  the  Concerto  grosso." 
The  Chaconne,  he  contends,  should  express  "  satiety  "  ;  the  Overture 
"  magnanimity." 


56  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

still  more  emphatic  in  refuting  the  fallacy  which 
considers  it  the  (esthetic  touchstone  of  music. 

The  beautiful  in  music  would  not  depend  on  the 
accurate  representation  of  feelings  even  if  such  a 
representation  were  possible.  Let  us,  for  argument's 
sake,  assume  the  possibility  and  examine  it  from  a 
practical  point  of  view. 

It  is  manifestly  out  of  the  question  to  test  this 
fallacy  by  instrumental  music,  as  the  latter  could  be 
shown  to  represent  definite  feelings  only  by  arguing 
in  a  circle.  We  must,  therefore,  make  the  experiment 
with  vocal  music,  as  being  that  music  whose  office  it 
is  to  emphasize  clearly  defined  states  of  mind.* 

Here  the  words  determine  the  subject  to  be 
described ;  music  may  give  it  life  and  breath,  and 
impart  to  it  a  more  or  less  distinct  individuality. 
This  is  done  by  utilising  as  far  as  possible  the 
characteristics  peculiar  to  motion  and  the  symbols 
associated  with  sounds.  If  greater  attention  is 
bestowed  on  the  words  than  on  the  production  of 
purely  musical  beauty,  a  high  degree  of  individuality 
may  be  secured — nay,  the  delusion  may  even  arise 
that  the  music  alone  expresses  the  emotion  which, 
though  susceptible  of  intensification,  was  already  im- 
mutably contained  in  the  words.     Such  a  tendency  is 


*  In  his  critiques  on  vocal  music,  the  author  (in  common  with 
other  critics  who  share  his  opinion),  for  the  sake  of  brevity  and  con- 
venience, has  often  when  speaking  of  music  made  use,  without  any 
after- thought,  of  terms  such  as  "  express,"  "  describe,"  "  represent," 
&c.  Now  such  terms  may  without  any  impropriety  be  employed  so 
long  as  we  do  not  lose  sight  of  their  conditional  applicability — i.e.,  of 
their  applicability  in  a  metaphorical  and  dynamic  sense  only. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  57 

in  its  consequences  on  a  par  with  the  alleged 
practicability  of  representing  a  certain  feeling  as  the 
subject  of  a  given  "  piece  of  music."  Suppose  there 
did  exist  perfect  congruity  between  the  real  and  the 
assumed  power  of  music ;  that  it  was  possible  to 
represent  feelings  by  musical  means,  and  that  these 
feelings  were  the  subject  of  musical  compositions. 
If  this  assumption  be  granted,  we  should  be  logically 
compelled  to  call  such  compositions  the  best  as 
perform  the  task  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  Yet 
do  we  not  all  know  compositions  of  exquisite  beauty 
without  any  definite  subject  ?  We  need  but  instance 
Bach's  Preludes  and  Fugues.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  vocal  compositions  which  aim  at  the  most 
accurate  expression  of  certain  emotions,  within  the 
limits  referred  to,  and  in  which  the  supreme  goal  is 
truthfulness  in  this  descriptive  process.  On  close 
examination  we  find  that  the  rigour  with  which 
music  is  subordinated  to  words  is  generally  in  an 
inverse  ratio  to  the  independent  beauty  of  the  former; 
otherwise  expressed,  that  rhetorico-dramatical  precision 
and  musical  perfection  go  together  but  half-way,  and 
then  proceed  in  different  directions. 

The  recitative  affords  a  good  illustration  of  this 
truth,  since  it  is  that  form  of  music  which  best 
accommodates  itself  to  rhetorical  requirements,  down 
to  the  very  accent  of  each  individual  word  ;  never 
even  attempting  to  be  more  than  a  faithful  copy  of 
rapidly-changing  states  of  mind.  This,  therefore,  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  theory  before  us,  should 
be  the  highest  and  most  perfect  music.  But  in  the 
Recitative  music  degenerates  into  a  mere  shadow 


53  THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC. 

and  relinquishes  its  individual  sphere  of  action 
altogether.  Is  not  this  a  proof  that  the  representing 
of  definite  states  of  mind  is  contrary  to  the  nature 
of  music,  and  that  in  their  ultimate  bearings  they 
are  antagonistic  to  one  another  ?  Let  anyone  play 
a  long  Recitative,  leaving  out  the  words,  and  enquire 
into  its  musical  merit  and  subject.  Any  kind  of 
music  claiming  to  be  the  sole  factor  in  producing  a 
given  effect  should  be  able  to  stand  this  test. 

This  is  true,  by  no  means,  of  the  Recitative  alone  ; 
the  most  elevated  and  excellent  forms  of  music 
equally  bear  out  the  assertion  that  the  beautiful 
tends  to  disappear  in  proportion  as  the  expression  of 
some  specific  feeling  is  aimed  at ;  for  the  former  can 
expand  only  if  untrammeled  by  alien  factors,  whereas 
the  latter  relegates  music  to  a  subservient  place. 

We  will  now  ascend  from  the  declamatory  principle 
in  the  Recitative  to  the  dramatic  principle  in  the 
Opera.  In  Mozart's  operas  there  is  perfect 
congruity  between  the  music  and  the  words.  Even 
the  most  intricate  parts,  the  Finales,  are  beautiful 
if  judged  as  a  whole,  quite  apart  from  the  words, 
although  certain  portions  in  the  middle  might  without 
them  become  somewhat  obscure.  To  do  justice  in  a 
like  degree,  both  to  the  musical  and  the  dramatic  re- 
quirements, is  rightly  considered  to  be  the  ideal  of  the 
Opera.  But  that  for  this  reason  there  should  be  per- 
petual warfare  between  the  principles  of  dramatic 
nicety  and  musical  beauty,  entailing  never-ending 
concessions  on  both  sides,  has,  to  my  knowledge, 
never  been  conclusively  demonstrated.  The  principle 
involved     in     the     Opera     is    not    undermined     or 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  59 

weakened  by  the  fact  that  all  the  parts  are  sung — 
our  imagination  being  easily  reconciled  to  an  illusion 
of  this  kind — but  it  is  the  constraint  imposed  alike 
upon  music  and  words  that  leads  to  continual  acts  of 
trespass  or  concession,  and  reduces  the  opera,  as 
it  were,  to  a  constitutional  government,  whose  very 
existence  depends  upon  an  incessant  struggle  between 
two  parties,  equally  entitled  to  power.  It  is  from 
this  conflict,  in  which  the  composer  allows  now  one 
principle  and  now  the  other  to  prevail,  whence  arise 
all  the  imperfections  of  the  opera,  and  whence,  at  the 
same  time,  all  rules  important  for  operatic  works  are 
deduced.  The  principles  in  which  music  and  the 
drama  are  grounded,  if  pushed  to  their  logical  con- 
sequences, are  mutually  destructive ;  but  they  point 
in  so  similar  a  direction  that  they  appear  almost 
parallel. 

The  dance  is  a  similar  case  in  point,  of  which 
any  ballet  is  a  proof.  The  more  the  graceful 
rhythm  of  the  figures  is  sacrificed  in  the  attempt  to 
speak  by  gesture  and  dumb-show,  and  to  convey 
definite  thoughts  and  emotions,  the  closer  is  the 
approximation  to  the  low  rank  of  mere  pantomime. 
The  prominence  given  to  the  dramatic  principle  in 
the  dance  proportionately  lessens  its  rhythmical  and 
plastic  beauty.  The  Opera  can  never  be  quite  on  a 
level  with  a  recited  drama,  or  with  purely  instru- 
mental music.  A  good  opera  composer  will, 
therefore,  constantly  endeavour  to  combine  and 
reconcile  the  two  factors,  instead  of  axiomatically 
emphasizing  now  one  and  now  the  other.  When  in 
doubt,  however,  he  will  always  allow  the  claim  of 


<)0  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IX    MUSIC. 

music  to  prevail,  the  chief  element  in  the  Opera 
being  not  dramatic,  but  musical  beauty.  This  is 
evident  from  the  different  attitudes  of  mind  in  which 
we  listen  to  a  play  or  an  opera  in  which  the  same 
subject  is  treated.  The  neglect  of  the  musical  part 
will  always  be  far  more  keenly  felt.* 

To  us  it  appears  that  the  importance,  as  regards 
the  history  of  the  art  of  music,  of  the  celebrated 
controversy  between  the  disciples  of  Gluck  and  those 
of  Piccini  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  question  of  the 
internal  conflict  in  the  Opera,  caused  by  the  incom- 
patibility of  the  musical  and  the  dramatic  principles, 
was  then,  for  the  first  time,  thoroughly  discussed. 
The  controversy,  it  is  true,  was  carried  on  without  a 
clear  perception  of  the  immense  influence  which  the 
issue  would  have  on  the  whole  mode  of  thinking. 
He  who  does  not  shrink  from  the  labour — a  very 
profitable  labour,  by  the  way — of  tracing  this  musical 

*  What  Mozart  says  about  the  relative  positions  of  music  and 
poetry  in  the  Opera  is  highly  characteristic  of  him.  Completely 
opposed  to  Gluck,  who  gave  poetry  precedence  of  music,  Mozart 
held  that  poetry  ought  to  be  the  obedient  child  of  music.  Without 
a  moment's  hesitation  he  proclaims  music  to  reign  supreme  in  the 
Opera,  in  which  it  serves  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  pervading 
spirit.  In  support  of  this,  he  reminds  us  that  good  music  will  make 
us  forget  even  the  most  wretched  libretto — whereas  a  converse  in- 
stance can  scarcely  be  adduced — and  this  unquestionably  follows 
from  the  inherent  nature  of  music.  The  mere  circumstance  that  it 
affects  our  senses  more  directly  and  more  powerfully  than  any  other 
art  and  engrosses  them  completely,  goes  to  show  that  the  feelings 
which  the  words  might  arouse  must  needs  retire  into  the  background 
for  a  time.  The  music,  moreover,  through  the  organ  of  hearing  (in 
some  apparently  unaccountable  manner)  appeals  directly  to  our 
imagination  and  our  emotional  faculty,  with  a  force  that  temporarily 
transcends  that  of  the  Poetry.     (O.  Jahn's  "Mozart,"  III.,  91.) 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  6l 

controversy  to  its  sources,*  will  notice  in  the  vast  range 
from  adulation  down  to  ill-breeding  all  the  wit  and 
smartness  of  French  polemics,  but  likewise  so 
childish  a  treatment  of  the  abstract  part  of  the 
question,  and  such  want  of  deeper  knowledge,  that 
the  science  of  musical  aesthetics  could  gain  nothing- 
from  the  endless  disputation.  The  most  gifted  con- 
troversialists:  Suard  and  the  Abbe  Arnaud  on 
Gluck's  side,  and  Marmontel  and  La  Harpe  of  the 
opposite  camp,  though  going  repeatedly  beyond  the 
limits  of  Gluck's  critique,  and  into  a  more  minute 
examination  of  the  dramatic  principle  of  the  Opera, 
and  its  relation  to  music,  treated  this  relation,  never- 
theless, as  one  of  the  many  properties  of  the  Opera, 
but  by  no  means  as  one  of  the  most  vital  importance. 
It  never  struck  them  that  the  very  life  of  the  Opera 
depended  on  the  nature  of  this  relationship.  It  is 
certainly  remarkable  how  very  near  some  of  Gluck's 
opponents,  in  particular,  were  at  times  to  the 
position  from  which  the  fallacy  of  the  dramatic 
principle  can  be  clearly  seen  and  confuted.  Thus 
La  Harpe,  in  the  Journal  de  Politique  et  de  Litteraturc 
of  the  5th  October,  1777,  says  :  "  On  objecte  qu'il 
"  n'est  pas  naturel  de  chanter  un  air  de  cette  nature 
"  dans  une  situation  passionee,  que  c'est  un  moyen 
"  d'arreter  la  scene  et  de  nuir  a  l'effet.  Je  trouve  ces 
"  objections  absolument  illusoires.  D'abord,  des  qu'on 
"  admetlechant,il  fautl'admettre  leplus  beau  possible 


*  The  most  notable  of  these  polemic  writings  are  to  be  found  in 
the  collection  :  "  Memoires  pour  servir  a  l'histoire  de  la  Revolution 
operee  dans  la  musiqtte  par  M.  le  Chevalier  Gluck."  (Naples  and 
Paris,  i78r.) 


()2  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

li  et  il  n'est  pas  plus  naturel  de  chanter  mal,  que  de 
'•  chanter  bien.  Tous  les  arts  sont  fondes  sur  des 
"  conventions,  sur  des  donndes.  Quand  je  viens  a 
"  l'opera,  c'est  pour  entendre  la  musique.  Je  n'ignore 
"  pas,  qu'  Alceste  ne  faisait  ses  Adieux  a  Admete  en 
"  chantant  un  air;  mais  comme  Alceste  est  sur  le 
"  Theatre  pour  chanter,  si  je  retrouve  sa  douleur  et 
"  son  amour  dans  un  air  bien  melodieux,  je  jouirai  de 
"  son  chant  en  m'interessant  a  son  infortune."  Is  't 
credible  that  La  Harpe  should  have  failed  to 
recognise  the  security  and  unassailableness  of  his 
position  ?  For,  after  a  while,  it  occurs  to  him  to 
object  to  the  duet  of  Agamemnon  and  Achilles  in 
"  Iphigenia "  because  "it  is  inconsistent  with  the 
dignity  of  the  two  heroes  to  talk  simultaneously." 
With  this  remark  he  quits  the  vantage-ground  of  the 
principle  of  purely  musical  beauty  and  tacitly — nay, 
unconsciously  accepts  the  theory  of  his  adversaries. 

The  more  scrupulous  we  are  in  keeping  pure  the 
dramatic  element  of  the  opera,  by  withholding  from 
it  the  vivifying  breath  of  musical  beauty,  the  more 
quickly  it  faints  away  like  a  bird  in  the  exhausted 
receiver  of  an  air  pump.  We  have,  therefore,  no 
course  open  but  to  fall  back  upon  the  pure,  spoken 
drama  which,  at  all  events,  is  a  proof  of  the 
impossibility  of  the  opera,  unless,  though  fully  aware 
of  the  unreality  involved,  we  assign  to  the  musical 
element  the  foremost  rank.  In  the  true  exercise  of 
the  art,  this  fact  has,  indeed,  never  been  questioned. 
Even  Gluck,  the  most  orthodox  dramaturgist, 
although  he  originated  the  fallacy  that  opera-music 
should  be  nothing  but  exalted  declamation,  has,  in 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  63 

practice,  often  allowed  his  musical  genius  to  get  the 
better  of  him,  and  this  invariably  to  the  great  advantage 
of  the  work.  The  same  holds  good  of  Richard 
Wagner.  For  the  object  of  these  pages,  it  is  enough 
to  emphatically  denounce  as  false  Wagner's  principal 
theorem,  as  stated  in  the  first  volume  of  "Oper  und 
Drama."  "  The  misconception  respecting  the  Opera, 
"  viewed  as  a  work  of  art,  consists  in  the  fact  that  the 
"  means  (the  music)  is  regarded  as  the  end,  and  the 
"  end  (the  drama)  as  the  means.''  An  Opera,  however, 
in  which  the  music  is  really  and  truly  employed 
solely  as  a  medium  for  dramatic  expression  is  a 
musical  monstrosity.* 

•  I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  some  very  pertinent  remarks  by 
Grillparzer  and  M.  Hauptmann  : — 

Grillparzer  calls  it  "  preposterous  to  make  music  in  the  Opera  the 
41  mere  handmaid  of  the  text ''  and  he  goes  on  to  say :  "If  music  in  the 
"  Opera  is  only  there  to  say  over  again  ivhat  the  poet  has  already 
"  expressed,  then  away  with  it.  .  .  .  He  who  knows  thy  power, 
"  oh  melody  !  which  thou,  needless  of  words  to  explain  thy  meaning, 
"  bringest  down  from  heaven,  thither  to  return,  after  stirring  the  depths 
"  of  our  soul — he  who  knows  thy  charms  will  never  make  thee  the 
"  humble  creature  of  poetry :  to  poetry  he  may,  indeed,  accord  priority 
"  (and  I  think  she  has  a  title  to  it  in  the  sense  in  which  manhood  takes 
"  precedence  of  youth),  but  he  will  acknowledge  the  existence  of  thy 
"  own  independent  realm,  and  instead  of  regarding  you  both  in  the 
"  light  of  ruler  and  subject,  or  even  as  guardian  and  ward,  he  will  deem 
"  you  to  be  sisters."  He  holds  it  to  be  of  supreme  importance  that 
"  no  opera  be  measured  by  the  standard  of  poetry — for  according  to 
"  that,  every  dramatico-musical  composition  is  nonsense — but  solely 
"  by  the  standard  of  music." 

In  another  passage  Grillparzer  says :  "  The  opera-composer  who  is 
"  in  the  habit  of  putting  his  music  together  mechanically,  will  find 
"  nothing  easier  than  to  adapt  his  music  exactly  to  the  words  ;  whereas 
"  he  who  aims  at  making  his  music  an  organic  whole,  with  inherent 
*' laws,  will  constantly  come  into  collision  with  the  words.  Every. 
"  melody  or  theme  has  its  own  laws  of  construction  and  development 


64 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 


One  of  the  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  Wagner's 
proposition  (respecting  the  means  and  the  end)  is, 
that  all  composers  who  have  set  indifferent  librettos 

"  which  to  the  true  musical  genius  are  sacred  and  inviolable,  and  which 
"  he  dare  not  infringe  in  deference  to  the  words.  The  musical  prosaist 
"  may,  indeed,  begin  and  break  off  anywhere,  for  fragments  and 
"  sections  can  easily  be  transposed  and  re-arranged ;  but  whoever  has 
"  a  mind  for  unity  and  completeness  will  give  the  whole  or  nothing. 
"  These  remarks  must  not  be  construed  into  a  defence  of  bad  librettos, 
"  they  are  merely  intended  as  an  excuse  and  a  palliation.  It  is  for  this 
"  reason  that  Rossini's  shallow  trifling  is  superior  to  Mosel's  intellec- 
"  tual  parrotry  which  destroys  the  very  essence  of  music,  in  order  to 
"  stumble  along  the  line  already  traced  by  the  poet.  For  this  reason 
"  again,  many  incongruities  may  be  shown  to  exist  in  Mozart's  Operas, 
"  but  none  in  Gluck's.  Lastly,  for  this  reason  the  much-admired 
"  characteristic  of  music  is  often  but  an  extremely  negative  merit,  joy 
*'  being  generally  expressed  by  not-sadness;  sorrow  by  not-gladness; 
"  gentleness  by  not-harshness;  rage  by  not-gentleness;  love  by  means 
"  of  flutes,  and  despair  with  trumpets,  kettle-drums,  and  double-basses. 
"  The  composer  ought  to  be  guided  by  the  incidents  as  they  arise,  not  by 
"  the  words,  and  if  his  music  is  more  eloquent  he  may  rightly  disregard 
"  the  libretto."  Do  not  many  of  these  aphorisms,  written  so  many 
years  ago,  sound  like  a  condemnation  of  Wagner's  theories  and  the 
Walkyrs-style  ?  Grillparzer  displays  a  profound  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  public,  when  he  says  :  "  Those,  who  in  the  Opera  look 
"  for  purely  dramatic  effects,  are,  as  a  rule,  those  who  expect  musical 
"  effects  from  dramatic  poetry — in  other  words,  an  effect  without  a 
"  cause."     (IX.,  144.1 

M.  Hauptmann,  in  his  letters  to  O.  Jahn,  follows  a  similar  line  of 
thought :  "  It  seemed  to  me  (on  hearing  Gluck's  operas)  as  if  the  com- 
"  poser  was  bent,  above  all,  on  being  true ;  not  musically  true,  but  true  in 
"  respect  of  the  words.  This  is  frequently  the  high  road  to  musical 
"  failure,  for,  whereas  speech  may  be  abruptly  broken  off,  music  ought 
"  to  slowly  die  away.  Music  will  ever  remain  the  vowel,  in  respect  of 
11  which  the  word  is  but  the  consonant  and  here,  as  always,  it  is  the 
"  vowel  which  plays  the  principal  part,  as  being  the  essential  and  not 
"  the  auxiliary  sound.  The  music  invariably  stands  out  in  strong 
"  relief,  how  well  soever  it  may  fit  the  words,  and  it  ought  always  to 
"be  worth  listening  to  for  its  own  sake."  ("Briele  an  Spohr,"  &c.i 
edited  by  F.  Hiller,  Leipzig,  1S76,  page  106.) 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  65 

to  anything  better  than  indifferent  music,  were 
guilty  of  a  great  impropriety,  as  we  ourselves  are  in 
admiring  such  music. 

The  connection  of  poetry  with  music  and  with  the 
opera  is  a  sort  of  morganatic  union,  and  the  more 
closely  we  examine  this  morganatic  union  of  musical 
beauty  and  definite  thoughts,  the  more  sceptical  do 
we  become  as  regards  its  indissolubility. 

How  is  it  that  in  every  song  slight  alterations  may 
be  introduced,  which,  without  in  the  least  detracting 
from  the  accuracy  of  expression,  immediately  destroy 
the  beauty  of  the  theme?  This  would  be  impossible, 
if  the  latter  were  inseparably  connected  with  the 
former.  How,  again,  is  it,  that  many  a  song,  though 
adequately  expressing  the  drift  of  the  poem,  is  never 
theless  quite  intolerable  ?  The  theory  that  music 
is  capable  of  expressing  emotions,  furnishes  us  with 
no  explanation.  In  what,  then,  consists  the 
beautiful  in  music,  if  it  does  not  consist  in  the 
emotional  element  ? 

An  altogether  different  and  independent  element 
remains,  which  we  shall  presently  examine  more 
closely. 


CHAPTER   III. 

So  far  we  have  considered  only  the  negative  aspect 
of  the  question,  and  have  sought  to  expose  the 
fallacy  that  the  beautiful  in  music  depends  upon  the 
accurate  expression  of  feelings. 

We  must  now,  by  way  of  completing  the  exposi- 
tion, bring  into  light  also  its  positive  aspect,  and 
endeavour  to  determine  of  what  nature  the  beautiful 
in  music  is. 

Its  nature  is  specifically  musical.  By  this  we  mean 
that  the  beautiful  is  not  contingent  upon,  or  in  need 
of  any  subject  introduced  from  without,  but  that  it 
consists  wholly  of  sounds  artistically  combined. 
The  ingenious  co-ordination  of  intrinsically  pleasing 
sounds,  their  consonance  and  contrast,  their  flight 
and  re-approach,  their  increasing  and  diminishing 
strength — this  it  is,  which  in  free  and  unimpeded 
forms,  presents  itself  to  our  mental  vision. 

The  primordial  element  of  music  is  euphony,  and 
rhythm  is  its  soul.  Rhythm  in  general,  or  the 
harmony  of  a  symmetrical  structure  ;  and  rhythm  in 
particular,  or  the  systematically  reciprocal  motion  of 
its  several  parts  within  a  given  measure.  The  crude 
material  which  the  composer  has  to  fashion,  the 
vast  profusion  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  fully 
estimate,  is  the  entire  scale  of  musical  notes  and  their 
inherent    adaptability    to     an    endless    varietv    ~* 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  67 

melodies,  harmonies,  and  rhythms.  Melody,  unex- 
hausted, nay,  inexhaustible,  is  pre-eminently  the 
source  of  musical  beauty.  Harmony  with  its  countless 
modes  of  transforming,  inverting,  and  intensifying, 
offers  the  material  for  constantly  new  developments  ; 
while  rhythm,  the  main  artery  of  the  musical 
organism,  is  the  regulator  of  both,  and  enhances  the 
charms  of  the  "  timbre  "  in  its  rich  varieties. 

To  the  question — what  is  to  be  expressed  with  all 
this  material  ?  the  answer  will  be  :  musical  ideas. 
Now,  a  musical  idea,  reproduced  in  its  entirety,  is 
not  only  an  object  of  intrinsic  beauty,  but  also  an 
end  in  itself,  and  not  a  means  for  representing 
feelings  and  thoughts. 

The  essence  of  music  is  sound  and  motion. 

The  arabesque,  a  branch  of  the  art  of  ornamenta- 
tion, dimly  betokens  in  what  manner  music  may 
exhibit  forms  of  beauty,  though  no  definite  emotion 
be  involved.  We  see  a  plexus  of  flourishes,  now 
bending  into  graceful  curves,  now  rising  in  bold 
sweeps  ;  moving  now  towards,  and  now  away  from 
each  other ;  correspondingly  matched  in  small  and 
large  arcs;  apparently  incommensurable,  yet  duly 
proportioned  throughout ;  with  a  duplicate  or 
counterpart  to  every  segment ;  in  fine,  a  compound 
of  oddments,  and  yet  a  perfect  whole.  Imagine 
now  an  arabesque,  not  still  and  motionless,  but 
rising  before  our  eyes  in  constantly  changing  forms. 
Behold  the  broad  and  delicate  lines,  how  they 
pursue  one  another ;  how  from  a  gentle  curve  they 
rise  up  into  lofty  heights,  presently  to  descend 
again ;    how  they  widen  and    contract ;    surprising 


68  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

the  eye  with  a  marvellous  alternation  of  quiescence 
and  mobility.  The  image  thus  becomes  nobler  and 
more  exalted.  If,  moreover,  we  conceive  this  living 
arabesque  as  the  active  emanation  of  inventive 
genius,  the  artistic  fulness  of  whose  imagination  is 
incessantly  flowing  into  the  heart  of  these  moving 
forms,  the  effect,  we  think,  will  be  not  unlike  that 
of  music. 

When  young,  we  have  probably  all  been  delighted 
with  the  ever-changing  tints  and  forms  of  a 
kaleidoscope.  Now,  music  is  a  kind  of  kaleidoscope, 
though  its  forms  can  be  apprecial  d  only  by  an 
infinitely  higher  ideation.  ■  It  brings  forth  a  profuse- 
ness  of  beautiful  tints  and  forms,  now  sharply  con- 
trasted and  now  almost  imperceptibly  graduated ;  all 
logically  connected  with  each  other,  yet  all  novel 
in  their  effect,  forming,  as  it  were,  a  complete  and 
self-subsistent  whole,  free  from  any  alien  admixture. 
The  main  difference  consists  in  the  fact  that  the 
musical  kaleidoscope  is  the  direct  product  of  a  creative 
mind,  whereas  the  optic  one  is  but  a  cleverly  con- 
structed mechanical  toy.  If,  however,  we  stepped 
beyond  the  bounds  of  analogy,  and  in  real  earnest 
attempted  to  raise  mere  colour  to  the  rank  of  music 
by  foisting  on  one  art  the  means  of  another,  we 
should  be  landed  in  the  region  of  such  puerile 
contrivances  as  the  "  Colour  Piano  "  or  the  "  Ocular 
Organ,"  though  these  contrivances  significantly 
prove  both  phenomena  to  have,  morphologically,  a 
common  root. 

If  any  sentimental  lover  of  music  thinks  that 
analogies,  such  as  the  one  mentioned,  are  degrading 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  69 

to  the  art,  we  reply  that  the  only  question  is  whether 
they  are  relevant  or  not.  A  subject  is  not  degraded 
by  being  studied.  If  we  wish  to  disregard  the 
attributes  of  motion  and  successive  formation,  which 
render  a  comparison  with  the  kaleidoscope  par- 
ticularly applicable,  we  may,  forsooth,  find  a  more 
dignified  parallel  for  beautiful  music  in  architec- 
ture, the  human  body,  or  a  landscape,  because  these 
all  possess  original  beauty  of  outline  and  colour,  quite 
irrespective  of  the  intellectual  substratum,  the  soul. 

The  reason  why  people  have  failed  to  discover  the 
beauties  in  which  pure  music  abounds,  is,  in  great 
measure,  to  be  found  in  the  underrating,  by  the  older 
systems  of  aesthetics,  of  the  sensuous  element,  and  in  its 
subordination  to  morality  and  feeling — in  Hegel  to 
the  "idea."  Every  art  sets  out  from  the  sensuous 
and  operates  within  its  limits.  The  theory  relating 
to  the  expression  of  feelings  ignores  this  fact,  and 
disdainfully  pushing  aside  the  act  of  hearing,  it  passes 
on  immediately  to  the  feelings.  Music,  say  they,  is 
food  for  the  soul,  and  the  organ  of  hearing  is  beneath 
their  notice. 

True,  it  is  not  for  the  organ  of  hearing  as  such,  for 
the  "  labyrinth  "  or  the  "  tympanum "  that  a 
Beethoven  composes.  But  our  imagination,  which  is 
so  constituted  as  to  be  affected  by  auditory  impressions 
(and  in  relation  to  which  the  term  organ  means 
something  very  different  from  a  channel  directed 
towards  the  world  of  physical  phenomena),  delights 
in  the  sounding  forms  and  musical  structures, 
and,  conscious  of  their  sensuous  nature,  lives  in  the 
immediate  and  free  contemplation  of  the  beautiful. 


70  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  define  this  self-subsistent 
and  specifically  musical  beauty.  As  music  has  no 
prototype  in  nature,  and  expresses  no  definite  con- 
ceptions, we  are  compelled  to  speak  of  it  either  in 
dry,  technical  terms,  or  in  the  language  of  poetic 
fiction.  Its  kingdom  is,  indeed,  "  not  of  this  world." 
All  the  fantastic  descriptions,  characterizations,  and 
periphrases  are  either  metaphorical  or  false.  What 
in  any  other  art  is  still  descriptive,  is  in  music  already 
figurative.  Of  music  it  is  impossible  to  form  any 
but  a  musical  conception,  and  it  can  be  compre- 
hended and  enjoyed  only  in  and  for  itself. 

The  "specifically  musical"  must  not,  however,  be 
understood  only  in  the  sense  of  acoustic  beauty  or 
symmetry  of  parts — both  of  which  elements  it  em- 
braces as  of  secondary  importance — and  still  less  can 
we  speak  of  "a  display  of  sounds  to  tickle  the  ear,"  or 
use  similar  phraseology,  which  is  generally  intended 
to  emphasize  the  absence  of  an  intellectual  principle. 
But,  by  laying  stress  on  musical  beauty,  we  do  not 
exclude  the  intellectual  principle ;  on  the  contrary, 
we  imply  it  as  essential ;  for  we  would  not  apply  the 
term  "  beautiful  "  to  anything  wanting  in  intellectual 
beauty;  and  in  tracing  the  essential  nature  of  beauty 
to  a  morphological  source,  we  wish  it  to  be  under- 
stood that  the  intellectual  element  is  most  intimately 
connected  with  these  sonorific  forms.  The  term 
"  form  "  in  musical  language  is  peculiarly  significant. 
The  forms  created  by  sound  are  not  empty  ;  not  the 
envelope  enclosing  a  vacuum,  but  a  well,  replete  with 
the  living  creation  of  inventive  genius.  Music,  then, 
as  compared  with  the  arabesque,  is  a  picture,  yet  a 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  71 

picture  the  subject  of  which  we  cannot  define  in 
words,  or  include  in  any  category  of  thought.  In 
music  there  is  both  meaning  and  logical  sequence, 
but  in  a  musical  sense;  it  is  a  language  we  speak  and 
understand,  but  which  we  are  unable  to  translate.  It 
is  a  highly  suggestive  fact  that,  in  speaking  of 
musical  compositions,  we  likewise  employ  the  term 
"  thought,"  and  a  critical  mind  easily  distinguishes 
real  thoughts  from  hollow  phrases,  precisely  as  in 
speech.  The  Germans  significantly  use  the  term 
"  Satz  "  (sentence)  for  the  logical  consummation  of  a 
part  of  a  composition,  for  we  know  exactly  when  it 
is  finished,  just  as  in  the  case  of  a  written  or  spoken 
sentence,  though  each  has  a  logic  of  its  own. 

The  logic  in  music,  which  produces  in  us  a  feeling 
of  satisfaction,  rests  on  certain  elementary  laws  of 
nature,  which  govern  both  the  human  organism  and 
the  phenomena  of  sound.  It  is,  above  all,  the 
primordial  law  of  "  harmonic  progression  "  which, 
similarly  to  the  curve-lines  in  painting  and  sculpture, 
contains  the  germ  of  development  in  its  main  forms, 
and  the — unfortunately  almost  unexplained — cause 
of  the  link  which  connects  the  various  musical 
phenomena. 

All  musical  elements  are  in  some  occult  manner 
connected  with  each  other  by  certain  natural 
affinities,  and  since  rhythm,  melody,  and  harmony 
are  under  their  invisible  sway,  the  music  created  by 
man  must  conform  to  them — any  combinations  con- 
flicting with  them  bearing  the  impress  of  caprice 
and  ugliness.  Though  not  demonstrable  with 
scientific  precision,  these  affinities  are  instinctively 


72  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 

felt  by  everj'  experienced  ear,  and  the  organic  com- 
pleteness and  logic,  or  the  absurdity  and  unnatural- 
ness  of  a  group  of  sounds,  are  intuitively  known, 
without  the  intervention  of  a  definite  conception  as 
the  standard  of  measure,  the  tertium  compara- 
tioms* 

From  this  negative  rationalness,  inherent  in  music 
and  founded  on  laws  of  nature,  springs  the  possibility 
of  its  becoming  invested  also  with  positive  forms  of 
beauty. 

The  act  of  composing  is  a  mental  working  on 
material  capable  of  receiving  the  forms  which  the 
mind  intends  to  give.  The  musical  material  in  the 
hands  of  creative  genius  is  as  plastic  and  pliable  as 
it  is  profuse.  Unlike  the  architect,  who  has  to 
mould  the  coarse  and  unwieldy  rock,  the  composer 
reckons  with  the  ulterior  effect  of  past  sounds. 
More  ethereal  and  subtle  than  the  material  of  any 
other  art,  sound  adapts  itself  with  great  facility  to 
any  idea  the  composer  may  have  in  his  mind.  Now, 
as  the  union  of  sounds  (from  the  interdependence  of 
which  the  beautiful  in  music  flows)  is  not  effected 


*  "  Poetry  may  utilise  the  ugly  (the  unbeautiful)  even  in  a  fairly 
"  liberal  measure,  for,  as  it  affects  the  feelings  only  through  the 
"  medium  of  the  ideas  which  it  directly  suggests,  the  knowledge  that 
•'  it  is  a  means  adapted  to  an  end  will,  from  the  outset,  soften  its 
"  impression,  even  to  the  extent  of  creating  a  most  profound  sensation, 
"  by  force  of  contrast  and  by  stimulating  the  imagination.  The  effect 
"  of  music,  however,  is  perceived  and  assimilated  directly  by  the 
"  senses,  and  the  verdict  of  the  intellect  comes  too  late  to  correct  the 
"  disturbing  factor  of  ugliness.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  Shakespeare 
"  was  justified  in  making  use  of  the  horrible,  while  Mozart  was  obliged 
"  to  remain  within  the  limits  of  the  beautiful."    (Grillparzer  IX.,  142.) 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  73 

by  mechanicalty  stringing  them  together,  but 
by  acts  of  a  free  imagination,  the  intellectual 
force  and  idiosyncrasy  of  the  particular  mind 
will  give  to  every  composition  its  individual 
character.  A  musical  composition,  as  the  creation 
of  a  thinking  and  feeling  mind,  may,  there- 
fore, itself  possess  intellectuality  and  pathos  in  a 
high  degree.  Every  musical  work  ought  to  bear  this 
stamp  of  intellectuality,  but  the  music  itself  must 
furnish  evidence  of  its  existence.  Our  opinion 
regarding  the  seat  of  the  intellectual  and  emotional 
elements  of  a  musical  composition  stands  in  the 
same  relation  to  the  popular  way  of  thinking  as  the 
idea  of  immanence  does  to  that  of  transcendence.  The 
object  of  every  art  is  to  clothe  in  some  material  form 
an  idea  which  has  originated  in  the  artist's  imagina- 
tion. In  music  this  idea  is  an  acoustic  one;  it  cannot 
be  expressed  in  words  and  subsequently  translated 
into  sounds.  The  initial  force  of  a  composition  is 
the  invention  of  some  definite  theme,  and  not  the 
desire  to  describe  a  given  emotion  by  musical 
means.  Thanks  to  that  primitive  and  mysterious 
power,  whose  mode  of  action  will  for  ever  be  hidden 
from  us,  a  theme,  a  melody  flashes  on  the  composer's 
mind.  The  origin  of  this  first  germ  cannot  be 
explained,  but  must  simply  be  accepted  as  a  fact. 
When  once  it  has  taken  root  in  the  composer's 
imagination,  it  forthwith  begins  to  grow  and  develop; 
the  principal  theme  being  the  centre  round  which 
the  branches  group  themselves  in  all  conceivable 
ways,  though  always  unmistakably  related  to  it. 
The   beauty  of  an   independent  and   simple  theme 


74  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

appeals  to  our  aesthetic  feeling  with  that  directness, 
which  tolerates  no  explanation,  except,  perhaps, 
that  of  its  inherent  fitness  and  the  harmony  of  parts, 
to  the  exclusion  of  any  alien  factor.  It  pleases  for 
its  own  sake,  like  an  arabesque,  a  column,  or  some 
spontaneous  product  of  nature — a  leaf  or  a  flower. 

There  is  no  greater  and  more  frequent  error  than 
to  distinguish  between  "beautiful  music,"  with  and. 
without  a  definite  subject.  The  error  is  due  to  the 
extremely  narrow  conception  of  the  beautiful  in 
music,  leading  people  to  regard  the  artistically  con- 
structed form  and  the  soul  infused  into  it,  as  two 
independent  and  unrelated  existences.  All  com- 
positions are  accordingly  divided  into  full  and  empty 
"champagne  bottles";  musical  "champagne,"  how- 
ever, has  the  peculiarity  of  developing  with  the 
bottle. 

One  musical  thought  is  refined  in  and  through 
itself  and  for  no  further  reason  ;  another  is  vulgar  ; 
this  final  cadence  is  imposing,  while  by  the  alteration 
of  but  two  notes  it  becomes  commonplace.  We  are 
perfectly  justified  in  calling  a  musical  theme  grand, 
graceful,  warm,  hollow,  vulgar ;  but  all  these  terms 
are  exclusively  suggestive  of  the  musical  character  of 
the  particular  passage.  To  define  the  musical 
complexion  of  a  given  theme,  we  often  speak 
in  terms  used  to  describe  emotions,  such  as 
"  proud,  gloomy,  tender,  ardent,  longing."  But 
we  may  with  equal  justice  select  them  from  a 
different  order  of  phenomena,  and  call  a  piece  of 
music,  "  sweet,  fresh,  cloudy,  cold."  Our  feelings,  to 
be  descriptive  of  the  character  of  a  musical  com- 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  75 

position,  must  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  mere 
phenomena,  just  as  any  other  phenomenon  which 
happens  to  present  certain  analogies.  Epithets, 
such  as  we  have  mentioned,  may  be  used  so  long  as 
we  remain  fully  conscious  of  their  figurative  sense — 
nay,  we  may  even  be  unable  to  avoid  them  ;  but  let 
us  never  say,  this  piece  of  music  expresses  pride,  &c. 

A  close  examination  of  the  musical  definiteness 
of  a  theme  convinces  us  however — the  inscrutability 
of  the  ultimate  ontological  causes  notwithstanding — 
that  there  are  various  proximate  causes  with  which 
the  intellectual  element  in  a  composition  is  inti- 
mately associated.  Every  musical  factor  (such  as 
an  interval,  the  "  timbre,"  a  chord,  the  rhythm, 
&c.)  has  a  distinctive  feature  of  its  own  and  its 
individual  mode  of  action.  Though  the  composer's 
mind  be  a  mystery,  its  product  is  quite  within  the 
grasp  of  our  understanding. 

A  theme,  harmonised  with  the  common  chord, 
sounds  differently  if  harmonised  with  the  chord  of 
the  sixth;  a  melody  progressing  by  an  interval  of  the 
seventh  produces  quite  a  distinct  effect  from  one  pro- 
gressing by  an  interval  of  the  sixth.  The  rhythm, 
the  volume  of  sound,  or  the  "  timbre  " — each  alters 
the  specific  character  of  a  theme  entirely — in  fine, 
every  single  musical  factor  necessarily  contributes 
to  a  certain  passage  assuming  just  this  particular 
aspect,  and  affecting  the  listener  in  this  particular 
way.  What  it  is  that  makes  HaleVy's  music  appear 
fantastic,  that  of  Auber  graceful — what  enables  us 
immediately  to  recognise  Mendelssohn  or  Spohr — 
all   this   may  be  traced   to  purely  musical  causes. 


76  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

without  having  recourse  to  the  mysterious  element 
of  the  feelings. 

On  the  other  hand,  why  the  frequent  chords  of 
|  and  the  concise,  diatonic  themes  of  Mendelssohn, 
the  chromatic  and  enharmonic  music  of  Spohr,  the 
short  two-bar  rhythm  of  Auber,  &c,  invariably 
produce  this  specific  impression  and  none  other — 
this  enigma,  it  is  true,  neither  psychology  nor 
physiology  can  solve. 

If,  however,  we  enquire  into  the  proximate  cause — 
and  that  is,  after  all,  what  concerns  us  most  in  any 
art — we  shall  find  that  the  thrilling  effect  of  a  theme 
is  owing,  not  to  the  supposed  extreme  grief  of  the 
composer,  but  to  the  extreme  intervals  ;  not  to  the 
beating  of  his  heart,  but  to  the  beating  of  the  drums; 
not  to  the  craving  of  his  soul,  but  to  the  chromatic 
progression  of  the  music.  The  link  connecting  the 
two  we  would  by  no  means  ignore  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, we  shall  presently  subject  it  to  a  careful 
analysis.  Meanwhile,  we  must  remember  that  a 
scientific  enquiry  into  the  effect  of  a  theme  can  deal 
only  with  such  musical  factors  as  have  an  enduring 
and  objective  existence,  and  not  with  the  presumable 
state  of  mind  in  which  the  composer  happened  to 
be.  The  conclusion  reached  by  arguing  from  the 
composer's  state  of  mind  directly  to  the  effect  of 
the  music  might,  perchance,  be  correct ;  but  tb/ 
most  important  part  of  the  syllogism,  the  middle 
term — i.e.,  the  music  itself,  would  thus  be  ignored. 

A  good  composer  always  has,  perhaps  more  by 
intuition  than  by  rote,  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  every  musical  element ;  but   in   order 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  77 

to  give  a  rationale  of  the  various  musical  sensations 
and  impressions,  we  require  a  theoretical  knowledge 
of  those  characters  from  the  most  intricate  com- 
binations down  to  scarcely  distinguishable  gradations. 
The  specific  effect  of  a  melody  must  not  be  taken  as 
"  a  marvel  mysterious  and  unaccountable,"  which 
we  can  only  "  feel "  or  "  divine  " ;  but  it  is  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  musical  factors  united  in  this 
particular  manner.  A  short  or  long  rhythm,  a 
diatonic  or  chromatic  progression — each  has  its 
individual  physiognomy  and  an  effect  of  its  own.  An 
intelligent  musician  will,  therefore,  get  a  much 
clearer  notion  of  the  character  of  a  composition 
which  he  has  not  heard  himself,  by  being  told  that  it 
contains,  for  instance,  too  many  diminished  sevenths, 
or  too  many  tremolos,  than  by  the  most  poetic 
description  of  the  emotional  crises  through  which 
the  listener  passed. 

To  ascertain  the  nature  of  each  musical  factor, 
its  connection  with  a  specific  effect — its  proximate, 
not  its  ultimate  cause — and  finally,  to  explain  these 
particular  observations  by  more  general  laws  would 
be  to  establish  that  "  philosophic  foundation  of 
music  "  to  which  so  many  writers  aspire,  though 
none  has  ever  told  us  in  which  sense  he  understands 
this  phrase.  The  psychical  or  physical  effect  of  a 
chord,  a  rhythm,  or  an  interval  is  not  accounted  for 
by  saying  that  this  is  the  expression  of  hope,  that  the 
expression  of  disappointment,  as  we  should  say,  this 
is  red,  that  green,  but  only  by  placing  specifically 
musical  attributes  in  general  aesthetic  categories, 
and  the  latter  under  one  supreme  principle,     After 


78  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

having  explained  the  isolated  action  of  each  single 
element,  it  would  be  incumbent  upon  us  to  show 
in  what  manner  they  govern  and  modify  one  another 
in  all  their  various  combinations.  Most  musical 
critics  have  ascribed  the  intellectual  merit  of  a 
composition  more  particularly  to  the  harmony  and  the 
contrapuntal  accompaniment.  The  arguments,  how- 
ever, are  both  superficial  and  desultory.  Melody,  the 
alleged  vehicle  of  sensuousness  and  emotion,  was  at- 
tributed to  the  inspiration  of  genius — the  Italian  school 
accordingly  receiving  a  gracious  word  of  praise  ;  while 
harmony,  the  supposed  vehicle  of  sterling  thought,  in 
contradistinction  to  melody,  was  deemed  to  be  simply 
the  result  of  study  and  reflection.  It  is  strange  how 
long  people  were  satisfied  with  so  unscientific  a  view 
of  the  subject.  Both  propositions  contain  a  grain 
of  truth,  but  they  are  neither  universally  applicable 
nor  are  the  two  factors  in  question,  in  reality,  ever  so 
strictly  isolated.  The  soul  and  the  talent  for  musical 
construction  are  bound  up  in  one  inseparable  whole. 
Melody  and  harmony  issue  simultaneously  in  one  and 
the  same  armour  from  the  composer's  mind.  Neither 
the  principle  of  subordination  nor  that  of  contrast 
affect  the  nature  of  the  relation  of  harmony  to  melody. 
Both  may  display  now  an  equal  force  of  independent 
development,  and  now  an  equally  strong  tendency 
to  voluntary  subordination — yet,  in  either  case, 
supreme  intellectual  beauty  may  be  attained.  Is  it, 
perchance,  the  (altogether  absent)  harmony  in  the 
principal  themes  of  Beethoven's  Overture  to 
*'  Coriolanus,"  or  of  Mendelssohn's  Overture  to 
"  The  Hebrides,"  which  gives  them  the  character  of 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  79 

profound  thought  ?  Is  the  intellectual  merit  of 
Rossini's  theme  "  Oh,  Matilda !  "  or  of  some 
Neapolitan  song,  likely  to  be  enhanced  by  sub- 
stituting for  the  original  meagre  harmony  a  basso 
continuo,  or  some  complicated  succession  of  chords? 
The  theme  was  conceived  with  that  harmony,  that 
rhythm,  and  that  instrumentation.  The  intellectual 
merit  lies  in  the  union  of  all  these  factors ;  hence  the 
mutilation  of  one  entails  that  of  the  others.  The 
prominence  of  the  melody,  the  rhythm,  or  the 
harmony,  as  the  case  may  be,  improves  the  effect  of 
the  whole,  and  it  is  sheer  pedantry  to  say  that  the 
excellence  or  the  triviality  is  owing  here  to  the 
presence  of  certain  chords,  and  there  to  their 
absence.  The  camellia  is  destitute  of  odour,  and  the 
lily  of  colour;  the  rose  is  rich  both  in  odour  and 
colour ;  each  is  beautiful,  and  yet  their  respective 
attributes  cannot  be  interchanged. 

A  "  philosophic  foundation  of  music  "  would  first 
of  all  require  us,  then,  to  determine  the  definite 
conceptions  which  are  invariably  connected  with  each 
musical  element  and  the  nature  of  this  connection. 
The  double  requirement  of  a  strictly  scientific  frame- 
work, and  an  extremely  comprehensive  casuistry, 
renders  it  a  most  arduous  though  not  an  impossible 
task,  unless,  indeed,  our  ideal  is  that  of  a  science  of 
music  in  the  sense  in  which  chemistry  and 
physiology  are  sciences  ! 

The  manner  in  which  the  creative  act  takes  place 
in  the  mind  of  a  composer  of  instrumental  music 
gives  us  a  very  clear  insight  into  the  peculiar  nature 
of  musical  beauty.     A  musical  idea  originates  in  the 


80  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

composer's  imagination ;  he  develops  it  —  more 
and  more  crystals  coalesce  with  it,  until  by 
imperceptible  degrees  the  whole  structure  in  its  main 
features  appears  before  him.  Nothing  then  remains 
to  be  done  but  to  examine  the  composition,  to 
regulate  its  rhythm  and  modify  it  according  to 
the  canons  of  the  art.  The  composer  of  instru- 
mental music  never  thinks  of  representing  a  definite 
subject ;  otherwise  he  would  be  placed  in  a  false 
position,  rather  outside  than  within  the  domain 
of  music.  His  composition  in  such  a  case 
would  be  programme  music,  unintelligible  without 
the  programme.  If  this  brings  the  name  of  Berlioz 
to  our  mind,  we  do  not  hereby  call  into  question 
or  underrate  his  brilliant  talent.  In  his  step 
followed  Liszt,  with  his  much  weaker  "  Symphonic 
Poems." 

As  the  same  block  of  marble  is  converted  by  one 
sculptor  into  the  most  exquisite  forms,  by  another 
into  a  clumsy  botch,  so  the  musical  scale,  by 
different  manipulation,  becomes  now  an  Overture  of 
Beethoven,  and  now  one  of  Verdi.  In  what  respect 
do  they  differ  ?  Is  it  that  one  of  them  expresses 
more  exalted  feelings,  or  the  same  feelings  more 
accurately  ?  No,  but  simply  because  its  musical 
structure  is  more  beautiful.  One  piece  of  music  is 
good,  another  bad,  because  one  composer  invents  a 
theme  full  of  life,  another  a  commonplace  one ; 
because  the  former  elaborates  his  music  with 
ingenious  originality,  whereas  with  the  latter  it 
becomes,  if  anything,  worse  and  worse ;  because  the 
harmony  in  one  case  is  varied  and  novel,  whereas 


THE   BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC.  8l 

in  the  other  it  drags  on  miserably  in  its  poverty  ; 
because  in  one  the  rhythm  is  like  a  pulse,  full  of 
strength  and  vitality,  whereas  in  the  other  it  is  not 
unlike  a  tattoo. 

There  is  no  art  which,  like  music,  uses  up  so 
quickly  such  a  variety  of  forms.  Modulations, 
cadences,  intervals  and  harmonious  progressions 
become  so  hackneyed  within  fifty,  nay,  thirty  years, 
that  a  truly  original  composer  cannot  well  employ 
them  any  longer,  and  is  thus  compelled  to  think  of 
a  new  musical  phraseology.  Of  a  great  number  of 
compositions  which  rose  far  above  the  trivialities  of 
their  day,  it  would  be  quite  correct  to  say  that  there 
was  a  time  when  they  were  beautiful.  Among  the 
occult  and  primitive  affinities  of  the  musical  elements 
and  the  myriads  of  possible  combinations,  a  great 
composer  will  discover  the  most  subtle  and  un- 
apparent  ones.  He  will  call  into  being  forms  of 
music  which  seemingly  are  conceived  at  the  com- 
poser's pure  caprice,  and  yet,  for  some  mysterious 
and  unaccountable  reason,  stand  to  each  other  in 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect.  Such  compositions 
in  their  entirety,  or  fragments  of  them,  may,  without 
hesitation,  be  said  to  contain  the  "  spark  of  genius." 
This  shows  how  mistaken  Oulibicheff  is,  when  he 
asserts,  that  instrumental  music  cannot  possibly  be 
" spirituel,"  because  the  "esprit"  of  the  composer 
consists  solely  in  adapting  his  music  in  "a  certain 
manner  to  a  direct  or  indirect  programme."  In  our 
opinion  we  are  quite  warranted  in  saying,  that  the 
celebrated  D  sharp  in  the  Allegro,  or  the  descending 
"  unisono "    passage     in    the    Overture    to    "  Don 

F 


82  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

Giovanni,"  is  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  genius. 
The  former,  however,  as  little  represents  (as 
Oulibicheff  imagines)  "  Don  Giovanni's  hostile 
attitude  to  the  human  race,"  as  the  latter  does  "  the 
parents,  the  husbands,  the  brothers  and  the  lovers 
of  the  women  whom  Don  Giovanni  seduced."  Such 
interpretations  are  not  only  questionable  in  them- 
selves, but  are  particularly  so  in  respect  of  Mozart, 
who — the  greatest  musical  genius  the  world  has  ever 
seen  —  transformed  into  music  all  he  touched. 
Oulibicheff  also  thinks  that  Mozart's  G  minor 
Symphony  accurately  describes  the  history  of  a  pas- 
sionate amour  in  four  different  phases.  But  the 
G  minor  Symphony  is  music,  neither  more  nor  less  ; 
and  that  is  quite  enough.  If  instead  of  looking  for 
the  expression  of  definite  states  of  mind,  or  certain 
events  in  musical  works,  we  seek  music  only,  we 
shall  then,  free  from  other  associations,  enjoy  the 
perfections  it  so  abundantly  affords.  Wherever 
musical  beauty  is  wanting,  no  meaning,  however 
profound,  which  sophistical  subtlety  may  read  into 
the  work  can  ever  compensate  for  it ;  and  where  it 
exists,  the  meaning  is  a  matter  of  indifference.  It 
directs  our  musical  judgment,  at  all  events,  into  a 
wrong  channel.  The  same  people  who  regard  music 
as  a  mode  in  which  the  human  intellect  finds  expres- 
sion— which  it  neither  is  nor  ever  can  be,  on  account 
of  its  inability  to  impart  convictions — these  very 
people  have  also  brought  the  word  "  intention  "  into 
vogue.  But  in  music  there  is  no  "  intention  "  that 
can  make  up  for  "  invention."  Whatever  is  not 
clearly  contained  in  the  music,  is  to  all  intents  and 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  83 

purposes  non-existent,  and  what  it  does  contain  has 
passed  the  stage  of  mere  intention.  The  saying: 
"  He  intends  something "  is  generally  used  in  a 
eulogistic  sense.  To  us  it  seems  rather  to  imply  an 
unfavourable  criticism  which,  translated  into  plain 
language  would  run  thus  :  the  composer  would  like 
to  produce  something,  but  he  cannot.  Now,  an  art 
is  to  do  something,  and  he  who  cannot  do  anything 
takes  refuge  in — "  intentions." 

As  the  musical  elements  of  a  composition  are  the 
source  of  its  beauty,  so  are  they  likewise  the  source 
of  the  laws  of  its  construction.  A  great  number  of 
false  and  confused  notions  are  entertained  on  this 
subject,  but  we  will  only  single  out  one. 

We  mean  the  commonly  accepted  theory  of  the 
Sonata  and  Symphony,  grounded  on  the  assumption 
that  feelings  are  expressible  by  musical  means.  In 
accordance  with  this  theory,  the  task  of  the  com- 
poser is  to  represent  in  the  several  parts  of  the 
Sonata  four  states  of  mind,  all  differing  among  them- 
selves, and  yet  related  to  one  another.  (How  ?)  In 
order  to  account  for  the  connection  which  undoubtedly 
exists  between  the  various  parts,  and  to  explain  the 
difference  in  their  effect,  it  is  naively  taken  for 
granted  that  a  definite  feeling  underlies  each  of 
them.  The  construction  put  upon  them  sometimes 
fits,  but  more  frequently  it  does  not,  and  it  never 
follows  as  a  necessary  consequence.  It  will  always, 
however,  be  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  four  different 
parts  are  bound  up  in  a  harmonious  whole,  and  that 
each  should  set  off  and  heighten  the  effect  of  the 
others,  according  to  the  aesthetic  laws  of  music.    We 


84  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

are  indebted  to  the  inventive  genius  of  M.  v. 
Schwindt  for  a  very  interesting  illustration  of 
Beethoven's  "Fantasia  for  the  Pianoforte"  (Op.  80), 
the  several  parts  of  which  the  artist  interprets  as 
representing  connected  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the 
principal  actors,  and  then  gives  a  pictorial  descrip- 
tion of  them.  Now,  just  as  the  painter  transforms 
the  sounds  into  scenes  and  shapes,  so  does  the 
listener  transform  them  into  feelings  and  occurrences. 
Both  stand  in  a  certain  relation  to  the  music,  but 
neither  of  them  in  a  necessary  one,  and  it  is  only 
with  necessary  relations  that  science  is  concerned. 

It  is  often  alleged  that  Beethoven,  when  making 
the  rough  sketch  of  a  composition,  had  before  him 
certain  incidents  or  states  of  mind.  Whenever 
Beethoven  (or  any  other  composer)  adopted  this 
method,  he  did  so  to  smooth  his  task  ;  to  render  the 
achievement  of  musical  unity  easier  by  keeping  in 
view  the  connecting  links  of  certain  objective 
phenomena.  If  Berlioz,  Liszt,  and  others  fancied 
that  a  poem,  a  title,  or  an  event  yielded  them  some- 
thing more  than  that,  they  were  labouring  under  a 
delusion.  It  is  the  frame  of  mind  bent  on  musical 
unity  which  gives  to  the  four  parts  of  a  sonata  the 
character  of  an  organically-related  whole,  and  not 
their  connection  with  an  object  which  the  composer 
may  have  in  view.  Where  the  latter  denied  himself 
the  luxury  of  these  poetic  leading-strings,  and 
followed  purely  musical  inspiration,  we  shall  find  no 
other  than  a  musical  unity  of  parts.  .ZEsthetically 
speaking,  it  is  utterly  indifferent  whether  Beethoven 
really  did  associate  all  his  works  with  certain  ideas. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  85 

We  do  not  know  them,  and  as  far  as  the  composition 
is  concerned,  they  do  not  exist.  It  is  the  composi- 
tion itself,  apart  from  all  comment,  which  has  to  be 
judged  ;  and  as  the  lawyer  completely  ignores  what- 
ever is  not  in  his  brief,  so  aesthetic  criticism  must 
disregard  whatever  lies  outside  the  work  of  art.  If 
the  several  parts  of  a  composition  bear  the  stamp  of 
unity,  their  correlation  must  have  its  root  in  musical 
principles.* 


*  Beethoven-oracles  like  Mr.  Lobe  and  others  were  greatly 
scandalized  at  these  remarks.  By  way  of  replying,  we  cannot  do 
better  than  quote  Otto  Jahn's  views  in  his  essay  on  the  new  edition 
of  Beethoven's  works  published  by  Breitkopf  and  H artel  ("  Gesam- 
melte  Aufsatze  fiber  Musik  "),  which  fully  confirm  our  own  opinions. 
Citing  Schindler's  well-known  anecdote  that,  when  asked  as  to  the 
meaning  of  his  D  minor  and  F  minor  Sonatas,  Beethoven  replied : 
'*  Read  Shakespeare's  '  Tempest,' "  Jabn  goes  on  to  say,  that  the 
querist,  after  having  read  the  play,  will  doubtless  become  convinced 
that  Shakespeare's  "  Tempest"  did  not  affect  him  in  the  same 
manner  as  it  did  Beethoven,  and  that  it  failed  to  inspire  him  with 
D  minor  and  F  minor  Sonatas.  That  just  this  play  should  have 
suggested  to  Beethoven  those  musical  marvels  is  certainly  an  in- 
teresting fact ;  but  the  attempt  to  understand  them  by  the  light  of 
Shakespeare  would  be  a  proof  of  a  somewhat  beclouded  musical 
judgment.  When  composing  the  Adagio  of  his  F  major  Quartet 
(Op.  18,  No.  1 )  Beethoven  is  said  to  have  had  the  grave-scene  in"  Romeo 
and  Juliet "  in  his  mind.  Now,  if  one  were  to  carefully  read  the 
scene  and  keep  it  in  his  mind's  eye,  while  listening  to  the  music, 
would  this  enhance  or  spoil  the  enjoyment  of  the  composition  ? 
Titles  and  foot-notes,  even  authentic  ones  by  Beethoven  himself,  are 
not  calculated  to  lead  to  a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  spirit  and  drift 
of  the  work.  On  the  contrary,  such  factors  are  apt  to  give  rise  to 
fallacies  and  misconceptions,  as  some  of  Beethoven's  titles  have 
actually  done.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  charming  Sonata  in 
E  flat  major  (Op.  81)  bears  the  following  inscription  :  "  Les 
adieux,  l'absence,  le  retour,"  and  being  thought  a  reliable  instance 
of  programme-music,  it  is  interpreted  with  every  confidence.  "  That 
"they  are  incidents  in  the  life  of  a  loving  couple,"  says  Marx,  who 


86  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 

To  avoid  even  the  possibility  of  misapprehension, 
we  will  now  define  our  conception  of  the  "  beautiful 
in  music"  from  three  points  of  view.  The  "beautiful 
in  music,"  in  the  specific  sense  in  which  we  under- 
stand it,  is  neither  confined  to  the  "  classical  style," 
nor  does  it  imply  a  preference  for  this  over  the 
"  romantic  style."  It  may  exist  in  one  style  no  less 
than  the  other,  and  may  occur  in  Bach  as  well  as  in 
Beethoven ;  in  Mozart  as  well  as  in  Schumann. 
Our  proposition  is  thus  above  all  suspicion  of  parti- 
sanship. The  whole  course  of  the  present  enquiry 
never  approaches  the  question  of  what  ought  to  be, 
but  simply  of  what  is,  We  can  deduce  from  it  no 
definite  ideal  of  the  truly  beautiful  in  music,  but  it 
enables  us  to  show  what  is  equally  beautiful  even  in 
the  most  opposite  styles. 

Not  long  since  the  fashion  began  to  regard  works 
of  art  in  connection  with  the  ideas  and  events  of  the 

leaves  it,  however,  an  open  question  whether  the  lovers  are  married 
or  not,  "was,  of  course,  to  be  presumed;  but  the  music  itself  con- 
tains the  proof  of  it."  "  The  lovers  spread  out  their  arms  as 
"  migratory  birds  do  their  wings,"  says  Lenz,  with  reference  to  the 
concluding  passages  of  the  Sonata.  Now  it  so  happens  that 
Beethoven  wrote  on  the  original  of  the  first  part :  "  The  farewell  on 
"  the  occasion  of  his  Imperial  Highness,  the  Archduke  Rudolfs 
"  departure,  the  4th  May,  1809,"  and  on  the  title-page  of  the  second 
part:  "The  arrival  of  his  Imperial  Highness  the  Archduke  Rudolf, 
"  the  30th  of  January,  1810."  How  he  would  have  ridiculed  the 
imputation  that  he  desired  to  impersonate  towards  the  Archduke  "  the 
11  female  flapping  her  wings  and  dying  with  bliss  and  fond  caresses." 
"  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  for  congratulation,"  Jahn  remarks  in  con- 
clusion, "  that  Beethoven  (as  a  rule)  refrained  from  uttering  words 
"  calculated  to  beguile  people  into  the  belief  that  he  who  understands 
"  the  title,  understands  also  the  composition.  His  music  says  all  he 
"  wished  to  say." 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  87 

time  which  gave  them  birth.  This  connection  is 
undeniable  and  exists  probably  also  in  music.  Being 
a  product  of  the  human  mind,  it  must  naturally  bear 
some  relation  to  the  other  products  of  mind ;  to 
contemporaneous  works  of  poetry  and  the  fine  arts ; 
to  the  state  of  society,  literature,  and  the  sciences  of 
the  period  ;  and  finally,  to  the  individual  experiences 
and  convictions  of  the  author.  To  observe  and 
demonstrate  the  existence  of  this  connection  in  the 
case  of  certain  composers  and  works  is  not  only  a 
justifiable  proceeding,  but  also  a  true  gain  to  know- 
ledge. We  should,  nevertheless,  always  remember, 
that  parallelisms  between  specific  works  of  art  and 
the  events  of  certain  epochs  belong  to  the  history  of 
art  rather  than  to  the  science  of  esthetics.  Though 
methodological  considerations  may  render  it  neces- 
sary to  connect  the  history  of  art  with  the  science  of 
aesthetics,  it  is  yet  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
proper  domain  of  each  of  these  sciences  be  rigour- 
ously  guarded  from  encroachment  on  either  side. 
The  historian  viewing  a  work  of  art  in  all  its  bear- 
ings may  discover  in  Spontini  "  the  expression  of 
French  imperialism,"  in  Rossini  "the  political 
restoration " ;  but  the  student  of  aesthetics  must 
restrict  himself  to  the  examination  of  the  works 
themselves,  in  order  to  determine  what  is  beautiful 
in  them  and  why  it  is  so.  The  aesthetic  enquirer 
knows  nothing  (nor  can  he  be  expected  to  know 
anything)  about  the  personal  circumstances  or  the 
political  surroundings  of  the  composer — he  hears 
and  believes  nothing,  but  what  the  music  itself  con- 
tains.     He   will,    therefore,    without    knowing   the 


88  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

name  or  the  biography  of  the  author,  detect  in 
Beethoven's  Symphonies  impetuousness  and  strug- 
gling, an  unsatisfied  longing  and  a  defiance,  suppor- 
ted by  a  consciousness  of  strength.  But  he  could 
never  glean  from  his  works  that  he  favoured  re- 
publicanism, that  he  was  a  bachelor  and  deaf,  or 
any  of  the  numerous  circumstances  on  which  the 
art-historian  is  wont  to  dilate  ;  nor  could  such  facts 
enhance  the  merit  of  the  music.  It  may  be  very 
interesting  and  praiseworthy  to  compare  the  various 
schools  of  philosophy  to  which  Bach,  Mozart,  and 
Haydn  belonged,  and  to  draw  a  parallel  between  them 
and  the  works  of  these  composers.  It  is,  however,  a 
most  arduous  undertaking,  and  one  which  can  but 
open  the  door  to  fallacies  in  proportion  as  it  attempts 
to  establish  causal  relations.  The  danger  of  exagger- 
ation is  exceedingly  great,  when  once  this  principle 
is  accepted.  The  slender  influence  of  contemporari- 
ness  may  easily  be  construed  as  an  inherent  necessity, 
and  the  ever-untranslatable  language  of  music  be 
interpreted  in  the  way  which  best  fits  the  particular 
theory :  all  depends  on  the  reasoning  abilities ; 
the  same  paradox  which  in  the  mouth  of  an 
accomplished  dialectician  appears  a  truism,  seems 
the  greatest  nonsense  in  the  mouth  of  an  unskilled 
speaker. 

Hegel,  too,  by  his  dissertation  on  music,  has  been 
the  cause  of  misconceptions,  for  he  quite  uncon- 
sciously confounded  the  point  of  view  of  art-history, 
which  was  pre-eminently  his  own,  with  that  of  pure 
aesthetics,  and  attributed  an  explicitness  to  music 
which,  as  such,  it  never  possessed.     The  character 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  89 

of  a  piece  of  music  undoubtedly  stands  in  some 
relation  to  the  character  of  its  author ;  but  for  the 
student  of  aesthetics  the  relation  is  non-existent. 
The  abstract  notion  of  a  necessary  interdependence 
of  all  phenomena  whatsoever  may  in  its  concrete 
application  be  distorted  into  a  caricature  of  the 
reality.  It  requires,  now-a-days,  great  moral  courage 
to  militate  against  a  doctrine  which  is  advocated 
with  such  skill  and  eloquence,  and  to  openly  affirm 
that  "  the  grasp  of  historical  relations"  is  one  thing, 
and  "aesthetic  judgment"  another.*  Objectively 
speaking,  it  is  beyond  doubt,  firstly,  that  the  different 
styles  of  expression  of  distinct  works  and  schools 
are  due  to  a  completely  different  collocation  of 
the  musical  elements ;  and  secondly,  that  what 
rightly  gives  pleasure  in  a  composition,  be  it  a 
severely  classical  Fugue  of  Bach,  or  the  dreamiest 
Nocturne  of  Chopin,  is  the  beautiful  in  a  musical 
sense  only. 

Even  less  than  with  the  classical  does  the 
beautiful  in  music  coincide  with  one  of  its  branches, 
the  architectonic.  The  rigid  sublimity  of  super- 
incumbent harmonies,  and  the  artistic  blending  of 
the  many  different  parts  (of  which  no  isolated 
segment  is  ever  free  and  self-dependent,  because  the 
complete  work  alone  is  so)  have  their  imprescriptible 
justification ;  yet  those  imposing  and  sombre 
pyramids  of  sound  of  the   old  Italian   and    Dutch 


*  If  we  refer  here  to  Riehl's  "  Musikalische  Characterkopfe,"  we 
do  so  in  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  intellectual  enjoyment  to  be 
derived  from  the  book. 


go  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 

schools,  and  the  finely-chased  salt-cellars  and  silver 
candlesticks,  so  to  speak,  of  venerable  Sebastian 
Bach,  are  but  small  provinces  within  the  kingdom 
of  musical  beauty, 

Many  schools  of  aesthetics  think  musical  enjoyment 
is  fully  accounted  for  by  the  pleasure  derived  from 
mere  regularity  and  symmetry ;  but  these  never  were 
the  sole  attributes  of  beauty  in  the  abstract,  and 
much  less  so  of  beauty  in  music.  The  most  insipid 
theme  may  be  symmetrical.  "Symmetry"  connotes 
proportion  only,  and  leaves  unanswered  the  question: 
what  it  is  that  impresses  us  as  being  symmetrical  ?. 
A  systematic  distribution  of  parts,  both  uninteresting 
and  commonplace,  often  exists  in  the  most  pitiable 
compositions,  but  the  musical  sense  wants  symmetry 
combined  with  originality* 


*  To  illustrate  this  proposition,  I  make  free  in  quoting  the  following 
passage  from  my  work  "  Die  moderne  Oper  "  (Preface,  page  vi.) : — 

"  The  celebrated  saying  that  the  '  truly  beautiful '  (who,  by  the 
"  way,  is  to  be  the  judge  of  this  attribute  ?)  can  never  lose  its  charms, 
"  even  after  the  greatest  lapse  of  time,  is,  as  far  as  music  is  concerned, 
"  little  more  than  an  empty,  though  pompous  phrase.  Music  proceeds 
"  on  the  lines  of  Nature,  which  every  autumn  allows  a  world  of  flowers 
"  to  moulder  into  dust,  whence  new  blossoms  arise.  Musical  com- 
"  positions  being  the  work  of  man,  the  product  of  a  certain  in- 
"  dividuality,  period,  or  state  of  civilization,  invariably  contain  the 
"  germs  of  slow  or  rapid  decay.  Among  the  great  forms  of  music,  the 
"  opera  is  the  most  composite  and  conventional,  and,  therefore,  the 
"  most  transient  form.  It  may  sadden  us  to  reflect  that  even  com- 
"  paratively  new  operas  of  a  lofty  and  brilliant  order  (Spohr,  Spontini) 
"  have  already  begun  to  disappear  from  the  stage.  The  fact  is,  never- 
"  theless,  beyond  dispute,  nor  can  the  process  be  stayed  by  invectives 
"  against  the  evil  '  spirit  of  the  time  ' — so  characteristic  of  all  ages. 
"  Time,  forsooth,  is  a  spirit,  but  a  spirit  which  creates  its  own  body. 
"  The  theatre  is  the  forum  for  the  living  aspirations  of  the  public,  as 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  gi 

Oerstedt,  to  crown  all,  carried  this  Platonic  doc- 
trine so  far  as  to  cite  the  circle,  for  which  he  claims 
positive  beauty,  as  a  parallel  case.  Should  he,  him- 
self, never  have  experienced  the  horror  of  a  completely 
round  composition  ? 

From  caution,  rather  than  from  necessity,  we  may 
add,  that  the  beautiful  in  music  is  totally  independ- 
ent of  mathematics.  Amateurs  (among  whom  there 
are  also  some  sentimental  authors)  have  a  singularly 
vague  notion  of  the  part  played  by  mathematics  in 
the  composition  of  music.  Not  content  with  the 
fact  that  the  vibrations  of  sound,  the  intervals  and 
the  phenomena  of  consonance  and  dissonance,  rest 
on  mathematical  principles,  they  feel  convinced  that 
the  beautiful  in  a  composition  may  likewise  be  re- 
duced to  numbers.  The  study  of  harmony  and  the 
counterpoint  is  looked  upon   as   a  kind  of    Cabala, 


"  distinguished  from  the  quiet  study  of  the  reader  of  musical  scores. 
"  The  stage  is  the  life  of  the  drama;  the  fight  for  its  possession  is  the 
"  drama's  struggle  for  existence.  In  this  battle  an  inferior  work  often 
*'  triumphs  over  its  superior  predecessors,  if  it  breathes  the  spirit  of  the 
"  time  and  if  its  pulse  throbs  in  harmony  with  our  feelings  and  desires. 
"  Both  the  artist  and  the  public  have  a  justifiable  longing  for  something 
"  new  in  Music,  and  those  critics  whose  admiration  is  restricted  to 
"  older  music  and  who  lack  the  courage  to  do  homage  also  to  modern 
"  compositions  undermine  the  productive  power  of  art.  The  delightful 
"  belief  in  the  imperishableness  of  music,  must,  of  course,  be  given  up. 
"  Has  not  every  age  proclaimed  with  the  same  ungrounded  assurance 
"  the  undying  beauty  of  its  best  operas  ?  How  long  is  it  since  Adam 
"  Hiller  of  Leipzig  declared,  that  if  Hasse's  Operas  should  ever  fail  to 
"charm  an  audience,  a  state  of  uni%ersal  depravity  would  ensue,? 
"  How  long  is  it  since  Schubart,  the  musical  aesthetic  of  Hohenasperg, 
"  pronounced  it  wholly  inconceivable  that  the  composer  Jomelli  could 
"  ever  sink  into  oblivion  ?  And  what  ate  Hasse  and  Jomelli  to  us  at 
*'  the  present  day?  " 


0,2  THIS    BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

teaching  the   "  calculus/'    as   it   were,    of  musical 
composition. 

Mathematics,  though  furnishing  an  indispensable 
key  to  the  study  of  the  physical  aspect  of  music, 
must  not  be  overrated,  as  regards  its  value  in  the 
finished  composition.  No  mathematical  calculation 
ever  enters  into  a  composition,  be  it  the  best  or  the 
worst.  Creations  of  inventive  genius  are  not  arith- 
metical sums.  Experiments  with  the  monochord, 
the  figures  producible  by  sonorous  vibrations,  the 
mathematical  ratios  of  musical  intervals,  &c,  lie  all 
outside  the  domain  of  (esthetics,  which  begins  only 
where  those  elementary  relations  cease  to  be  of 
importance.  Mathematics  merely  controls  the  intel- 
lectual manipulation  of  the  primary  elements  of 
music,  and  is  secretly  at  work  in  the  most  simple 
relations.  The  musical  thought,  however,  originates 
without  the  aid  of  mathematics.  What  Oerstedt 
means,  by  enquiring  whether  the  lifetime  of  several 
""  mathematicians  would  suffice  to  calculate  all  the 
"'  beauties  in  one  Symphony  by  Mozart"*  we,  for  our 
part,  are  at  a  loss  to  understand.  What  is  to  be,  or 
can  be  calculated  ?  Is  it  the  number  of  vibrations 
of  each  note  as  compared  with  the  next,  or  the 
relative  lengths  of  the  divisions  and  sub-divisions  of 
the  composition  ?  That  which  raises  a  series  of 
musical  sounds  into  the  region  of  music  proper  and 
above  the  range  of  physical  experiments  is  some- 
thing free  from  external  constraint,  a  spiritualised, 


'  "  Geist  in  der  Natur,"  Volume  III.,  translated  into  German  by 
Kannegiesser.     Page  32. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  93 

and,  therefore,  incalculable  something.  Mathe- 
matics has  as  little  and  as  much  to  do  with  musical 
compositions,  as  such,  as  with  the  generative  pro- 
cesses of  the  other  arts ;  for  mathematics  must,  after 
all,  guide  also  the  hand  of  the  painter  and  sculptor  : 
it  is  the  rhythmical  principle  of  verse ;  it  regulates 
the  work  of  the  architect  and  the  figures  of  the 
dancer.  Though  in  all  accurate  knowledge,  mathe- 
matics must  have  a  place,  we  should  never  attribute 
to  it  a  positive  and  creative  power,  as  some  musicians, 
the  conservatives  in  the  science  of  aesthetics,  would 
fain  have  us  do.  Mathematics  and  the  excitation  of 
feelings  are  in  a  similar  position — they  have  a  place 
in  all  arts,  but  in  no  art  is  there  so  much  stress  laid 
upon  them  as  in  music. 

Between  language  and  music,  parallels  have  also 
been  frequently  drawn  and  an  attempt  made  to  lay 
down  for  the  latter  laws  governing  only  the  former. 
The  relation  between  song  and  language  is  patent 
enough,  no  matter  whether  we  found  it  on  the 
identity  of  the  physiological  conditions,  or  on  the 
character  which  both  have  in  common — namely,  that 
of  expressing  thoughts  and  feelings  by  means  of  the 
human  voice.  The  analogy,  indeed,  is  so  obvious 
as  to  render  unnecessary  further  discussion.  We 
admit  at  once  that  wherever  music  is  merely  the 
subjective  manifestation  of  a  state  of  mind,  the  laws 
of  speech  are,  in  a  measure,  applicable  also  to  singing. 
That  under  the  influence  of  passion  the  pitch  of  the 
voice  is  raised,  while  the  propitiating  orator  lowers 
it ;  that  sentences  of  great  force  are  spoken  slowly, 
and  unimportant  ones  quickly  ;  these  and  kindred 


94  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

facts  the  composer  of  songs,  and  the  musical 
dramatist  especially,  will  ever  bear  in  mind.  People, 
however,  did  not  rest  satisfied  with  these  limited 
analogies ;  but  conceiving  music  proper  to  be  a  kind 
of  speech  (though  more  indefinite  and  subtle),  they 
forthwith  deduced  its  aesthetic  laws  from  the  proper- 
ties of  language.  Every  attribute  and  every  effect 
of  music  was  believed  to  have  its  analogy  in  speech. 
We  ourselves  are  of  opinion,  that  where  the  question 
turns  on  the  specific  nature  of  an  art,  the  points  in" 
which  it  differs  from  cognate  subjects  are  more 
important  than  its  points  of  resemblance.  An 
aesthetic  enquiiy,  unswayed  by  such  analogies 
which,  though  often  tempting,  do  not  affect  the 
essence  of  music,  must  ever  advance  towards  the 
point  where  speech  and  music  irreconcilably  part. 
Only  from  beyond  this  point  may  we  hope  to  dis- 
cover truly  useful  facts  in  respect  of  music.  The 
fundamental  difference  consists  in  this  :  while  sound 
in  speech  is  but  a  sign,  that  is,  a  means  for  the 
purpose  of  expressing  something  which  is  quite 
distinct  from  its  medium  ;  sound  in  music  is  the  end, 
that  is,  the  ultimate  and  absolute  object  in  view. 
The  intrinsic  beauty  of  the  musical  forms  in  the 
latter  case,  and  the  exclusive  dominion  of  thought 
over  sound  as  a  mere  medium  of  expression,  in 
the  former,  are  so  utterly  distinct  as  to  render 
the  union  of  these  two  elements  a  logical  impossi- 
bility. 

Speech  and  music,  therefore,  have  their  centres 
of   gravity  at   different   points,   around  which  the 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  95 

characteristics  of  each  are  grouped  ;  and  while  all 
specific  laws  of  music  will  centre  in  its  independent 
forms  of  beauty,  all  laws  of  speech  will  turn  upon  the 
correct  use  of  sound  as  a  medium  of  expressing 
ideas. 

The  most  baneful  and  confused  notions  have 
sprung  from  the  attempt  to  define  music  as  a  kind 
of  speech,  and  we  may  observe  their  practical  con- 
sequences every  day.  Composers  of  feeble  genius, 
in  particular,  were  only  too  ready  to  denounce  as 
false  and  sensual  the  ideal  of  intrinsic  musical 
beauty,  because  it  was  beyond  their  reach,  and  to 
parade  in  its  place  the  characteristic  significance  of 
music.  Quite  irrespective  of  Richard  Wagner's 
operas,  we  often  find  in  the  most  trivial  instrumental 
compositions  disconnected  cadences,  recitatives,  &c, 
which  interrupt  the  flow  of  the  melody,  and  which, 
while  startling  the  listener,  affect  to  have  some 
deep  meaning,  though  in  reality  they  only  display 
want  of  beauty.  Modern  pieces,  in  which  the 
principal  rhythm  is  constantly  upset  in  order  to 
bring  into  prominence  certain  mysterious  appendages 
and  a  superabundance  of  glaring  contrasts,  are 
praised  for  striving  to  pass  the  "narrow  limits"  of 
music,  and  to  elevate  it  to  the  rank  of  speech.  Such 
praise  has  always  appeared  to  us  somewhat  am- 
biguous. The  limits  of  music  are  by  no  means 
narrow,  but  they  are  clearly  defined.  Music  can 
never  be  "  elevated  to  the  rank  of  speech " — 
musically  speaking  "  lowered  "  would  be  a 
more  appropriate    term  —  for    music   to   be   speech 


•)6  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN    MUSIC. 

at   all   would,  of  course,  be  a  superlative  degree  of 
speech.* 

Our  singers  always  forget  this,  when  in  moments 
of  intense  emotion  they  ejaculate  sentences  as 
though  they  were  speaking,  and  think  they  thus  attain 
to  the  highest  degree  of  musical  expression.  It  does 
not  strike  them  that  the  transition  from  song  to 
speech  is  always  a  descent,  so  that  the  highest  pitch 
of  normal  speech  sounds  deeper  than  the  low  notes 
in   singing,   though   both   proceed  from    the    same 

*  We  cannot  conceal  the  fact  that  one  of  the  loftiest  productions 
of  genius  of  all  ages  has  by  its  grandeur  contributed  to  this 
favourite  fallacy  of  musical  criticism  of  modern  times,  which  assumes 
"  an  inherent  propensity  in  music  to  become  as  definite  as  speech," 
and  "  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  eurythmy."  We  allude  to  Beethoven's 
"  iVi»rA."  This  Symphony  is  one  of  those  intellectual  watersheds 
which,  visible  from  afar,  and  inaccessible,  separate  the  currents  of 
antagonistic  beliefs. 

Those  musicians,  who  value  above  all  things  the  sublimity  of  the 
"  intention  "  and  the  intellectual  importance  of  an  aim  distinct  from 
the  music,  place  the  Ninth  Symphony  at  the  head  of  all  music ;  while 
the  small  party  who  remain  faithful  to  the  abjured  belief  in  intrinsic 
beauty  and  contend  for  purely  aesthetic  aspirations  look  upon  it  with 
qualified  admiration.  As  may  be  guessed,  it  is  the  Finale  which  is 
the  point  at  issue,  since  no  difference  of  opinion  is  likely  to  arise 
among  attentive  and  competent  listeners  respecting  the  exquisite, 
though  not  faultless  beauty  of  the  first  three  parts.  We,  ourselves, 
have  always  regarded  the  last  part  as  nothing  more  than  the  gigantic 
shadow  of  a  gigantic  body.  It  is  quite  possible  to  realise  and 
apprehend  the  mighty  conception  of  a  lonesome  and  despairing 
mind,  reconciled  at  last  by  the  thought  of  universal  happiness,  and 
yet  to  consider  the  music  of  the  last  part  wanting  in  beauty,  its 
genius  and  individuality  notwithstanding.  That  this  view  of  the 
Symphony  is  generally  received  with  supreme  disfavour  we  know 
but  too  well.  In  fact,  when  one  of  the  most  profound  and  accom- 
plished of  German  scholars  attacked  the  fundamental  idea  of  tne 
composition  in  the  Augsburger  Allgem.  Zeitung  in  1853,  he  at 
once  felt  the  necessity  of    humorously  describing   the  article  as 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  97 

organ.  As  mischievous  in  their  practical  con- 
sequences (if  not  more  so,  because  of  the  impossibility 
of  disproving  them  by  actual  experiment)  are  those 
theories  which  try  to  impose  on  music  the  laws  of 
development  and  construction  peculiar  to  speech,  as 
in  former  days  Rameau  and  Rousseau,  and  ill 
modern  times  the  disciples  of  Richard  Wagner  have 
endeavoured  to  do.  In  this  attempt  the  life  of  the 
music  is  destroyed ;  the  innate  beauty  of  form  anni- 
hilated   in    pursuit   of    the    phantom    "  meaning." 


smanating  from  a  "  feeble  intellect."  He  demonstrated  the  aesthetic 
monstrosity  of  an  instrumental  composition  of  several  parts  closing 
with  a  chorus,  and  compared  Beethoven  to  a  sculptor,  who  carves  the 
legs,  the  body,  the  chest,  and  the  arms  of  a  figure  in  white  marble, 
but  colours  the  head.  One  would  think  that  all  sensitive  listeners 
must  simultaneously  experience  a  feeling  of  discomfort,  when  the 
sounds  of  the  human  voice  suddenly  break  upon  them,  because  at 
this  point  the  composition  "  changes  its  centre  of  gravity  with  a 
"  jerk  and  threatens  to  throw  the  listener  off  his  balance."  Nearly  ten 
years  later  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  "  feeble 
intellect "  was  none  other  than  David  Friedrich  Strauss. 

The  clever  Dr.  Becher,  on  the  other  hand,  who  may  figure  as  the 
representative  of  a  whole  class,  speaks  of  the  fourth  part  of  the  Ninth 
Symphony,  in  an  essay  printed  in  1843,  as  a  product  of  Beethoven's 
"  genius  which  admits  of  no  comparison  with  any  existing  com- 
'•  position  in  point  of  originality  of  construction,  sublime  organisation, 
11  and  boldness  of  imagination."  He  assures  us  that,  in  his  opinion, 
this  work,  like  Shakespeare's  "  '  King  Lear,'  and  a  dozen  other 
"  emanations  of  the  human  mind,  in  the  zenith  of  poetic  inspi- 
"  ration,  overtops  even  its  peers — a  very  Dawalagiri  in  the  Himalaya 
"  of  Art."  Becher,  in  common  with  those  who  cherish  the  same  views, 
gives  an  exhaustive  description  of  the  significance  of  the  "  subject  "  of 
each  of  the  four  parts  and  their  profound  symbolism — but  about  the 
music  itself  not  a  syllable  is  said.  This  is  highly  characteristic  of  a 
whole  school  of  musical  criticism,  which  to  the  question  whether  the 
music  is  beautiful,  replies  with  a  learned  dissertation  on  its  profound 
meant  tig. 

a 


98  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

One  of  the  most  important  tasks  of  the  aesthetics  of 
music  would,  therefore,  be  that  of  demonstrating 
with  inexorable  logic  the  fundamental  difference 
between  music  and  language,  and  of  never  departing 
from  the  principle  that,  wherever  the  question  is 
a  specifically  musical  one,,  all  parallelisms  with 
language  are  wholly  irrelevant. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Though,  in  our  opinion,  the  chief  and  fundamental 
task  of  musical  aesthetics  consists  in  subordinating 
the  supremacy,  usurped  by  the  feelings,  to  the  legiti- 
mate one  of  beauty — since  the  organ  of  pure  contem- 
plation, from  which,  and  for  the  sake  of  which,  the 
truly  beautiful  flows,  is  not  our  emotional,  but  our 
imaginative  faculty — yet  the  positive  phenomena  of 
the  emotions  play  too  striking  and  important  a  part 
in  our  musical  life  to  admit  of  the  question  being 
settled  by  simply  effecting  this  subordination. 

However  strictly  an  aesthetic  analysis  ought  to  be 
confined  to  the  work  of  art  itself,  we  should  always 
remember  that  the  latter  constitutes  the  link 
between  two  living  factors ;  the  whence  and  the 
whither;  in  other  words,  between  the  composer  and 
the  listener,  in  whose  minds  the  workings  of  the 
imagination  are  never  so  pure  and  unalloyed  as  the 
finished  work  itself  represents  them.  Their  imagina- 
tion, on  the  contrary,  is  most  intimately  associated 
with  feelings  and  sensations.  The  feelings,  therefore, 
are  of  importance  both  before  and  after  the  completion 
of  the  work ;  in  respect  of  the  composer  first,  and 
the  listener  afterwards,  and  this  we  dare  not  ignore. 

Let  us  consider  the  composer.  During  the  act  of 
composing  he  is  in  that  exalted  state  of  mind  with- 
out which  it  seems  impossible  to  raise  the  beautiful 
from  the  deep  well  of  the  imagination.     That  this 


IOO  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

exalted  state  of  mind  will,  according  to  the  com- 
poser's idiosyncrasy,  take  the  form  more  or  less  of 
the  nascent  structure,  now  rising  like  billows  and 
now  subsiding  into  mere  ripples,  without  ever  becom- 
ing an  emotional  whirlpool  which  might  wreck  the 
powers  of  artistic  invention  ;  that  calm  reflection 
again  is  at  least  as  essential  as  enthusiasm — all 
these  are  well-known  principles  of  art.  With  special 
reference  to  the  creative  action  of  the  composer,  we 
should  bear  in  mind  that  it  always  consists  in  the 
grouping  and  fashioning  of  musical  elements.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  emotions,  so  falsely  reputed  to  be 
the  main  factor  in  music,  is  nowhere  more  completely 
out  of  place  than  when  it  is  supposed  to  govern  the 
musician  in  the  act  of  composing,  and  when  the 
latter  is  regarded  as  a  kind  of  inspired  improvisation. 
The  slowly  progressing  work  of  moulding  a  com- 
position— which  at  the  outset  floated  in  mere  outlines 
in  the  composer's  brain — into  a  structure,  clearly 
defined  down  to  every  bar;  or  possibly,  without 
further  preliminaries  into  the  sensitive  polymorphous 
form  of  orchestral  music,  requires  quiet  and  subtle 
thought,  such  as  none  who  have  not  actually  essayed 
it  can  comprehend.  Not  only  "  fugato  "  or  contra- 
puntal passages,  but  the  most  smoothly  flowing  Rondo 
and  the  most  melodious  air  demand  what  our  language 
so  significantly  calls  an  "  elaboration  "  of  the  minutest 
details.  The  function  of  the  composer  is  a  construc- 
tive one  within  its  own  sphere,  analogous  to  that  of 
the  sculptor.  Like  him,  the  composer  must  not 
allow  his  hands  to  be  tied  by  anything  alien  to  his 
material,  since  he,  too,  aims  at  giving  an  objective 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  101 

existence  to  his  (musical)  ideal,  and  at  casting  it 
into  a  pure  form. 

Rosenkranz  may  have  overlooked  this  fact  when 
he  notices  the  paradox  (without,  however,  explaining 
it)  that  women,  who  by  nature  are  highly  emotional 
beings,  have  achieved  nothing  as  composers.*  The 
cause,  apart  from  the  general  reasons  why  women 
are  less  capable  of  mental  achievements,  is  the  plastic 
element  in  musical  compositions  which  like  sculpture 
and  architecture,  though  in  a  different  manner, 
imposes  on  us  the  necessity  of  keeping  ourselves 
free  from  all  subjective  feelings.  If  the  composing 
of  music  depended  upon  the  intensity  and  vividness 
of  our  feelings,  the  complete  want  of  female  com- 
posers, as  against  the  numerous  authoresses  and 
female  painters,  would  be  difficult  to  account  for. 
It  is  not  the  feeling,  but  a  specifically  musical  and 
technically-trained  aptitude  that  enables  us  to 
compose.  We  think  it,  therefore,  rather  amusing  to 
be  gravely  told  by  F.  L.  Schubart  that  the  "  masterly 
Andantes  "  of  the  composer  Stanitz  are  the  natural 
outcome  of  his  tender  heart  ;f  or  to  be  assured  by 
Christian  Rolle,  \  that  a  loving  and  amiable  dis- 
position makes  it  possible  for  us  to  convert  slow 
movements  into  masterpieces. 

Nothing  great  or  beautiful  has  ever  been  accom- 
plished without  warmth  of  feeling.  The  emotional 
faculty    is,    no    doubt,    highly    developed     in     the 


*  Rosenkranz,  "  Psychologie,"  2nd  edition,  page  60. 
t  Schubart,  "  Ideen  zu  einer  iEsthetik  der  Tonkunst,"  1806. 
+  "  Neue  Wahrnehmungen   zur  Aufnahme  der  Musik."     Berlin, 
1784.     Page  102. 


102  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

composer,  no  less  than  in  the  poet ;  but  with  the  former 
it  is  not  the  productive  factor.  A  strong  and  definite 
pathos  may  fill  his  soul  and  be  the  consecrating 
impulse  to  many  a  work,  but  it  can  never  become 
the  subject-matter,  as  is  obvious  from  the  very 
nature  of  music  which  has  neither  the  power  nor 
\he  vocation  to  represent  definite  feelings. 

An  inward  melody,  so  to  speak,  and  not  mere 
feeling  prompts  the  true  musician  to  compose. 

We  have  tried  to  show  that  the  composing  of 
music  is  constructive  in  its  nature  and,  as  such,  it  is 
purely  objective.  The  composer  creates  something 
intrinsically  beautiful,  while  the  inexhaustible 
intellectual  associations  of  sound  enable  his  sub- 
jectivity to  reflect  itself  in  the  mode  of  the  formative 
process.  Every  musical  note  having  its  individual 
complexion,  the  prominent  characteristics  of  the 
composer,  such  as  sentimentality,  energy,  cheerful- 
ness, &c,  may  through  the  preference  given  by  him 
to  certain  keys,  rhythms,  and  modulations  be  traced 
in  those  general  phenomena  which  music  is  capable 
of  reproducing.  But  once  they  become  part  and 
parcel  of  the  composition,  they  interest  us  only  as 
musical  features ;  as  the  character  of  the  composition, 
not   of  the  composer.*     That  which  a  sentimental, 

*  How  careful  we  ought  to  be  when  inferring  from  a  composition 
the  character  of  its  composer,  and  how  great  the  risk  is  that  flights 
of  fancy  will  take  the  place  of  dispassionate  research  at  the  expense  of 
truth,  has  among  other  instances  been  shown  by  the  Beethoven 
biography  of  A.  B.  Marx,  who  based  his  panegyric  on  musical  pre- 
dilections, and  scorning  a  conscientious  investigation  of  facts,  had 
many  of  his  conclusions  categorically  refuted  by  Thayer's  exhaustive 
enquiry. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IX    MUSIC.  I03 

an  ingenious,  a  graceful,  or  a  sublime  composer 
produces,  is,  above  all,  music,  an  objective  image. 
Their  works  will  differ  from  one  another  by  un- 
mistakable characteristics,  and  each  in  its  complete 
form  will  reflect  the  author's  individuality  ;  but  all, 
without  exception,  were  created  as  independent  and 
purely  musical  forms  of  beauty. 

It  is  not  the  actual  feeling  of  the  composer,  not  a 
subjective  state  of  mind,  that  evokes  a  like  feeling 
in  the  listener.  By  conceding  to  music  the  power  to 
evoke  feelings,  we  tacitly  recognise  the  cause  to  be 
something  objective  in  the  music,  since  it  is  only  the 
objective  element  in  beauty  which  can  possess  the 
quality  of  irresistibleness.  This  objective  something 
is,  in  this  case,  the  purely  musical  features  of  a  com- 
position. It  is,  aesthetically,  quite  correct  to  speak 
of  a  theme  as  having  a  sad  or  noble  accent,  but  not 
as  expressing  the  sad  or  noble  feelings  of  the  com- 
poser. Even  more  irrelevant  to  the  character  of  a 
composition  are  the  social  or  political  events  of  the 
period.  The  musical  expression  of  the  theme  neces- 
sarily follows  from  the  individual  selection  of  the 
musical  factors.  That  this  selection  is  due  to 
psychological  causes  or  facts  of  contemporary  his- 
tory has  to  be  proved  by  the  particular  work  itself 
(and  not  simply  by  dates  or  the  composer's  birthplace), 
and  even  when  thus  established,  the  connection, 
however  interesting  it  may  be,  remains  a  fact  belong- 
ing solely  to  history  or  biography.  An  esthetic 
analysis  can  take  no  note  of  circumstances  which  lie 
outside  the  work  itself. 

Though    it     is     certain     that     the    individuality 


104  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

of  the  composer  will  find  a  symbolic  expression  in  his 
works,  it  would  be  a  gross  error  from  this  subjective 
aspect  of  the  question  to  deduce  conceptions,  the 
true  explanation  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  objec- 
tiveness  of  the  artistic  creation.  One  of  these  con- 
ceptions is  style.* 

Style  in  music,  we  should  like  to  be  understood  in 
a  purely  musical  sense :  as  the  perfect  grasp  of  the 
technical  side  of  music,  which  in  the  expression  of 
the  creative  thought  assumes  an  appearance  of 
uniformity.  A  composer  shows  his  "good  style" 
by  avoiding  everything  trivial,  futile  and  unsuitable, 
as  he  carries  out  a  clearly  conceived  idea,  and  by 
bringing  every  technical  detail  into  artistic  agreement 
with  the  whole.  With  Vischer  ("yEsthetik,"  §  527)  we 
would  use  the  word  "  style  "  in  music  also  in  an 
absolute  sense,  and  disregarding  the  historical  and 
individual  meanings  of  the  term,  apply  the  word 
"style"  to  a  composer,  as  we  apply  the  word 
"character"  to  a  man. 

The  architectonic  side  of  beauty  in  music  is  brought 
into  bold  relief  by  the  question  of  style.  The  laws  of 
style  being  of  a  more  subtle  nature  than  the  laws  of 
mere  proportion,  one  single  bar  if  out  of  keeping 
with  the  rest,  though  perfect  in  itself,  will  vitiate  the 
style.      Just   as   in   architecture   we    might   call   a 


*  Forkel  is,  therefore,  quite  mistaken  in  his  derivation  of  the 
various  musical  styles,  from  "  different  modes  of  thought."  Accord- 
ing to  him  "  the  style  of  a  composer  is  due  to  the  romantic,  the 
"  conceited,  the  apathetic,  the  puerile,  or  the  pedantic  carrying 
"  bombast,  arrogance,  coldness,  and  affectation  into  the  expression  of 
"  his  thoughts."    ("  Theorie  der  Musik,"  1777,  page  23.) 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I05 

certain  arabesque  out  of  place,  so  we  should  con- 
demn as  bad  style  a  cadence  or  modulation  which 
is  opposed  to  the  unity  of  the  fundamental  thought. 
The  term  unity  must,  of  course,  be  understood  in  its 
wider  and  loftier  acceptation,  since  it  may  comprise 
contrast,  episode,  and  other  such  departures. 

The  limits  to  which  a  musical  composition  can 
bear  the  impress  of  the  author's  own  personal 
temperament  are  fixed  by  a  pre-eminently  objective 
and  plastic  process. 

The  act  in  which  the  direct  outflow  of  a  feeling 
into  sound  may  take  place  is  not  so  much  the 
invention  of  music  as  its  reproduction.  The  fact  that 
from  a  philosophical  point  of  view  a  composition  is 
the  finished  work  of  art,  irrespective  of  its  per- 
formance, should  not  prevent  us  from  paying 
attention  to  the  division  of  music  into  composition 
and  reproduction  (one  of  the  most  significant  classifi- 
cations of  our  art)  whenever  it  contributes  to  the 
explanation  of  some  phenomenon. 

Its  value  is  especially  manifest  on  enquiring  into 
the  subjective  impression  which  music  produces. 
The  player  has  the  privilege  of  venting  directly 
through  his  instrument  the  feeling  by  which  he  is 
swayed  at  the  time,  and  to  breathe  into  his  per- 
formance passionate  excitement,  ardent  longing, 
buoyant  strength,  and  joy.  The  mere  physical 
impulse  which  directly  communicates  the  inward 
tremor  as  the  fingers  touch  the  strings,  as  the  hand 
draws  the  bow,  or  as  the  vocal  chords  vibrate  in 
song,  enables  the  executant  to  pour  forth  his  inmost 
feelings.       His    subjectiveness    thus    makes    itself 


106  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

directly  heard  in  the  music  and  is  not  merely  a  silent 
prompter.  The  work  of  the  composer  is  slow  and 
intermittent,  whereas  that  of  the  player  is  an  un- 
impeded flight ;  the  former  composes  for  time,  the 
latter  performs  for  the  fruition  of  the  moment.  The 
piece  of  music  is  worked  out  by  the  composer,  but  it 
is  the  performance  which  we  enjoy.  Thus  the 
active  and  emotional  principle  in  music  occurs  in  the 
act  of  reproduction,  which  draws  the  electric  spark 
from  a  mysterious  source  and  directs  it  towards  the 
heart  of  the  listener.  The  player  can,  of  course, 
give  only  what  the  composition  contains,  and  little 
more  than  a  correct  rendering  of  the  notes  is 
demanded  of  him ;  he  has  merely  to  divine  and 
expose  the  spirit  of  the  composer — true,  but  it  is  the 
spirit  of  the  player  which  is  revealed  in  this  act  of 
reproduction.  The  same  piece  wearies  or  charms 
us,  according  to  the  life  infused  into  its  performance. 
It  is  like  one  and  the  same  person  whom  we  picture 
to  ourselves,  now  in  a  state  of  rapturous  enthusiasm, 
and  now  in  his  apathetic  every-day  looks.  Though 
the  most  ingenious  musical  box  fails  to  move  us,  a 
simple  itinerant  musician,  who  puts  his  whole  soul 
into  a  song,  may  do  so. 

A  state  of  mind  manifests  itself  most  directly  in 
music  when  origination  and  execution  coincide. 
This  occurs  in  the  freest  form  of  extempore  playing, 
and  if  the  player  proceeds  not  so  much  according  to 
the  strict  methods  of  art  as  with  a  predominantly 
subjective  tendency  (a  pathological  one,  in  a  wider 
sense),  the  expression  which  he  elicits  from  the  keys 
may  assume  almost  the  vividness  of  speech.     Who- 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  lOJ 

ever  has  enjoyed  this  absolute  freedom  of  speech,  in 
total  oblivion  of  all  surroundings,  this  spontaneous 
revelation  of  his  inner  self,  will  know  without 
further  explanation  how  love,  jealousy,  joy,  and 
sorrow  rush  out  of  their  secret  recesses,  undis- 
guised and  yet  secure,  celebrating  their  own 
triumphs,  singing  their  own  lays,  and  fighting  their 
own  battles,  until  their  lord  and  master  calls  them 
back,  quieted,  and  yet  disquieting. 

While  the  player  gives  vent  to  his  emotions  the 
expression  of  that  which  is  played  is  imparted  to 
the  listener.     Let  us  now  turn  to  the  latter. 

We  often  see  him  deeply  impressed  by  a  piece, 
moved  with  joy  or  grief ;  his  whole  being  rising  far 
above  purely  aesthetic  enjoyment ;  now  enraptured 
and  now  profoundly  depressed.  The  existence  of 
such  effects  is  undeniable,  actual,  and  genuine, 
attaining  at  times  supreme  degrees,  and  they  are, 
moreover,  so  notorious  that  we  need  not  dwell  any 
further  on  their  description.  Here  only  two  questions 
arise  :  in  what  respect  the  specific  character  of  this 
excitation  of  the  feelings  by  music  differs  from  other 
emotions,  and  to  what  extent  this  operation  is 
cesthetic. 

Though  all  arts,  without  exception,  have  the 
power  to  act  on  our  feelings,  yet  the  mode  in  which 
music  displays  it  is,  undoubtedly,  peculiar  to  this  art 
alone.  Music  operates  on  our  emotional  faculty 
with  greater  intenseness  and  rapidity  than  the 
product  of  any  other  art.  A  few  chords  may  give 
rise  to  a  frame  of  mind  which  a  poem  can  induce 
only    by    a    lengthy    exposition,     or   a    picture   by 


IOS  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 

prolonged  contemplation,  despite  the  fact  that  the  arts 
to  which  the  latter  belong  boast  the  advantage  over 
music  of  having  at  their  service  the  whole  range  of 
ideas  on  which  we  know  our  feelings  of  joy  or  sorrow 
to  depend.  The  action  of  sound  is  not  only  more 
sudden,  but  also  more  powerful  and  direct.  The 
other  arts  persuade  us,  but  music  takes  us  by  sur- 
prise. This,  its  characteristic  sway  over  our 
feelings,  is  most  vividly  realised  when  we  are  in  a 
state  of  unusual  exaltation  or  depression. 

In  states  of  mind  where  paintings  and  poetry, 
statues,  and  architectural  beauties  fail  to  rouse  us  to 
active  interest,  music  will  still  have  power  over  us — 
nay,  greater  power  than  at  other  times.  Whoever 
is  obliged  to  hear  or  play  music  while  in  a  state  of 
painful  excitement,  will  feel  it  like  vinegar  sprinkled 
on  a  wound.  No  other  art,  under  equal  conditions, 
can  cut  so  sharply  to  the  very  quick.  The  form  and 
character  of  the  music  lose  their  distinctiveness ;  be 
it  a  gloomy  Adagio  or  a  sparkling  Waltz,  we  are 
unable  to  tear  ourselves  away  from  the  sounds — we 
are  not  conscious  of  the  composition  as  such,  but 
only  of  sound,  of  music,  as  an  undefined  and  demo- 
niacal power,  sending  a  thrill  through  every  nerve  of 
our  body. 

When  Goethe  in  his  old  age  experienced  once 
again  the  power  of  love,  a  sensibility  for  music 
arose,  such  as  he  had  never  dreamt  of  before. 
Referring  to  those  remarkable  days  at  Marienbad 
{1823)  in  a  letter  to  Zelter,  he  says :  "  What  a 
4i  stupendous  power  music  now  has  over  me !  Milder's 
"  voice,  Szymanowska's  richness  of  tone,— nay,  the 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  IO9 

"  very  performances  of  the  Yagercorps  band  open  my 
"  heart  like  a  clenched  fist  opens  to  greet  a  friend. 
"I  am  firmly  convinced  that  during  the  first  bar  I 
"  should  have  to  leave  your  singing  academy."  Too 
clear-sighted  not  to  ascribe  the  effect  mainly  to 
nervous  excitement,  Goethe  concludes  in  the 
following  terms  :  "  You  would  cure  me  of  a  kind  of 
"  morbid  excitability,  which  is,  after  all,  at  the  bottom 
"  of  this  phenomenon."*  From  this  alone  it  ought  to 
be  clear  that  the  musical  excitation  of  our  feelings 
is  often  due  to  other  than  purely  aesthetic  factors. 
A  purely  aesthetic  factor  appeals  to  our  nervous 
system  in  its  normal  condition,  and  does  not 
count  on  a  morbid  exaltation  or  depression  of  the 
mind. 

The  fact  of  its  operating  with  greater  intensity  on 
our  nerves  proves  music  to  have  a  preponderance 
of  power  as  compared  with  other  arts.  But  on 
closely  examining  this  preponderance,  we  find  it  to- 
be  qualitative,  and  its  distinctive  quality  to  depend 
upon  physiological  conditions.  The  material  element, 
which  in  all  aesthetic  enjoyment  is  at  the  root  of  the 
intellectual  one,  is  greater  in  music  than  in  any 
other  art.  Music,  through  its  immateriality  the 
most  ethereal  art,  and  yet  the  most  sensuous  one 
through  its  play  of  forms  without  any  extraneous 
subject,  exhibits  in  this  mysterious  fusion  of  two 
antagonistic  principles  a  strong  affinity  for  the 
nerves,  these  equally  mysterious  links  in  the  invisible 
telegraphic  connection  between  mind  and  body. 


•„Briefwechselzwischen  Goethe  und  Zelter,"  Vol.  III.,  page  332. 


110  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

Psychologists  and  physiologists  alike  are  fully 
cognizant  of  the  truth  that  music  acts  most  power- 
fully on  the  nervous  system,  but  neither  of  them, 
unfortunately,  can  offer  an  adequate  explanation. 
Psychologists  will  never  be  able  to  throw  any  light 
on  the  irresistible  force  with  which  certain  chords, 
*'  timbres,"  and  melodies  impress  the  entire  human 
organism,  the  difficulty  being  to  establish  a  nexus 
between  certain  nerve  excitations  and  certain  states 
of  mind.  Nor  has  the  marvellously  successful 
science  of  physiology  made  any  vital  discovery 
towards  a  solution  of  this  problem. 

As  regards  the  musical  monographies  of  this 
hybrid  subject,  they  nearly  all  invest  music  with  the 
imposing  halo  of  a  miracle-worker  and  descant  on 
some  brilliant  examples,  rather  than  institute  a 
scientific  enquiry  into  the  true  and  necessary  relation 
between  music  and  our  consciousness.  Of  such  an 
enquiry  alone  are  we  in  need,  and  not  of  the  blind 
faith  of  a  doctor  Albrecht,  who  prescribes  music  as 
a  diaphoretic,  nor  of  the  incredulity  of  an  Oerstedt, 
who  explains  the  howling  of  a  dog  on  hearing 
music  in  certain  keys,  by  supposing  the  dog  to 
have  been  specially  trained  to  it  by  a  system  of 
whipping.* 

Many  lovers  of  music  may  not  be  aware  that  there 
is  quite  a  literature  on  the  physiological  action  of 
music  and  its  therapeutic  application.  Rich  in  in- 
teresting curiosities,  but  alike  unreliable  in  their 
observations  and  unscientific  in  their  explanations, 

"  «'  Der  Geist  der  Natur,"  III.,  9. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC.  Ill 

most  of  these  musical  quacks  magnify  a  highly  com- 
posite and  secondary  endowment  of  music  into  one 
of  unconditional  efficiency. 

From  the  time  of  Pythagoras  (the  first,  it  is  said, 
to  effect  miraculous  cures  by  means  of  music)  down 
to  the  present  day,  the  doctrine  has  appeared  again 
and  again  (enriched,  however,  by  fresh  examples 
rather  than  by  new  discoveries),  that  the  exciting  or 
soothing  effect  of  music  on  the  human  organism  may 
be  utilised  as  a  remedy  for  numerous  diseases.  Peter 
Lichtenthal  gives  us  a  detailed  account  ("  Der  musika- 
lische  Arzt ")  of  the  cure  of  gout,  sciatica,  epilepsy, 
the  plague,  catalepsy,  delirium,  convulsions,  typhus,  and 
even  stupidity  (stupiditas)  merely  by  the  power  of 
music* 

These  writers  may  be  divided  into  two  classes 
according  to  their  method  of  proof. 

One  class,  arguing  from  the  material  point  of  view, 
seek  to  establish  the  curative  effect  of  music  by  the 
physical  action  of  the  sound-waves  which,  say  they, 
are  transmitted  by  the  auditory  nerve  to  the  whole 
nervous  system,  and  the  general  shock  thus  resulting 
induces  a  salutary  reaction  in  the  morbid  part  of 
the  organism.  The  feelings  arising  at  the  same 
time  are,  it  is  contended,   merely  the  effect  of  the 


*  This  doctrine  reached  the  height  of  confusion  with  the  celebrated 
doctor  Battista  Porta,  who,  combining  the  ideas  of  a  medicinal  plant 
and  a  musical  instrument,  professed  to  cure  dropsy  by  means  of  a 
flute  made  from  the  stalk  of  the  hellebore.  A  musical  instrument, 
made  from  the  wood  of  the  poplar  (Populus)was  to  cure  sciatica,  and 
one  made  of  cinnamon  bark  was  to  cure  fainting  fits.  (Ency- 
dopedic,  article  "  Musique") 


112  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

nervous  shock,  since  not  only  do  emotions  produce 
bodily  changes,  but  the  latter,  in  their  turn,  may 
produce  corresponding  emotions. 

According  to  this  theory  (championed  by  an 
Englishman  named  Webb),  which  counts  among  its 
followers  men  like  Nicolai,  Schneider,  Lichtenthal, 
J.  J.  Engel,  Sulzer,  and  others,  music  operates  on 
us  just  as  the  peals  of  an  organ  do  on  doors  and 
windows,  which  tremble  under  the  aerial  vibrations. 
In  support  of  this  theory  cases  are  mentioned  such 
as  that  of  Boyle's  servant,  whose  gums  commenced 
to  bleed  on  hearing  a  saw  sharpened,  or  of  people 
falling  into  convulsions  when  the  edge  of  a  knife  is 
scraped  on  glass. 

But  that  is  not  music,  properly  so  called.  The 
fact  that  music,  in  common  with  those  phenomena 
which  so  strongly  affect  our  nerves,  has  sound  for  its 
substratum  will  be  found  to  be  one  of  great  im- 
portance in  respect  of  certain  conclusions  to  be 
drawn  hereafter ;  but  for  our  present  purpose  it  is 
enough  to  emphasize  the  truth,  in  opposition  to  a 
materialistic  view,  that  music  begins  where  those 
isolated  auditory  impressions  terminate,  and  that 
the  feeling  of  sadness  which  an  Adagio  may 
awake,  and  the  bodily  sensation  produced  by  a 
shrill  or  discordant  sound,  are  totally  different  in 
kind. 

The  other  class  of  writers  (to  which  belong 
Kausch  and  most  writers  on  aesthetics)  try  to  explain 
the  therapeutic  effect  of  music  on  psychological  grounds. 
Music,  they  argue,  arouses  emotions  and  passions 
which   throw  the   nervous    system    into   a  violent 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  II3 

agitation,  and  a  violent  agitation  of  the  nervous 
system  produces  a  healthy  reaction  in  the  diseased 
organism.  This  train  of  reasoning,  the  logical 
defects  of  which  are  too  obvious  to  require  specifi- 
cation, is  carried  so  far  by  these  idealistic  "  psycho- 
logists," in  defiance  of  the  materialistic  school  of 
thought  and  in  utter  disregard  of  the  truths  of 
physiology,  as  to  deny,  on  the  authority  of  an 
Englishman  of  the  name  of  Whytt,  the  connection 
between  the  auditory  nerve  and  the  other  nerves, 
which,  of  course,  involves  the  impossibility  of  bodily 
transmitting  to  the  entire  organism  an  impression 
produced  on  the  ear. 

The  notion  of  awakening  by  musical  means  definite 
feelings  such  as  love,  sadness,  anger,  and  delight, 
which  in  their  turn  are  to  cure  the  body  by  salutary 
excitement,  is  certainly  a  plausible  one.  It  always 
reminds  us  of  the  amusing  verdict  of  one  of  our  most 
distinguished  scientists  respecting  "Goldberg's  elec- 
tro-magnetic chains."  It  was  not  proved,  he  said, 
whether  an  electric  current  was  capable  of  curing 
certain  diseases,  but  it  was  proved  beyond  doubt 
that  "  Goldberg's  chains  "  were  incapable  of  gener- 
ating an  electric  current.  Applied  to  our  "  musical 
doctors,"  this  would  run  thus  :  It  is  possible  that 
certain  emotions  may  bring  about  a  favourable  turn 
in  bodily  ailments,  but  it  is  impossible  to  call  forth  at 
will  definite  emotions  by  musical  means. 

Both  theories— the  psychological  and  the  physio- 
logical—agree in  this,  that  they  infer  from  question- 
able premises  even  more  questionable  conclusions, 
and   that   their  practical    application   is    the    most 

H 


114  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

questionable  of  all.  It  may  be  quite  admissible  to 
justify  some  method  of  treatment  on  logical  grounds, 
but  it  is  rather  disagreeable  that  there  is  no  record 
of  a  doctor  sending  his  patient  to  hear  Meyerbeer's 
*'  Prophet  "  in  order  to  cure  him  of  typhus, 
or  of  the  French  horn  being  used  instead  of  the 
lancet. 

The  physical  action  of  music  is  neither  so  power- 
ful in  itself,  nor  so  certain,  nor  yet  so  independent 
of  psychological  and  aesthetic  associations,  nor  can 
it  be  so  nicely  regulated,  as  to  admit  of  its  being 
seriously  considered  as  a  remedy. 

Every  cure  effected  by  the  aid  of  music  must  be 
regarded  in  the  light  of  an  exception,  and  the  success 
can  never  be  put  down  to  the  music  alone,  being  due 
partly  to  special  causes  and  often  merely  to  the 
patient's  idiosyncrasy.  It  is  highly  significant  that 
the  only  case  in  which  music  is  really  applied  as  a 
remedy  is  in  the  treatment  of  the  insane,  and  this  is 
mainly  grounded  on  the  psychological  aspect  of 
musical  impressions.  That  in  the  modern  treatment 
of  insanity  music  is  frequently  employed  with  great 
success  is  a  well-known  fact.  The  success,  however, 
is  owing  neither  to  the  nervous  shock  nor  to  the 
arousing  of  the  passions,  but  to  the  soothing  and 
exhilarating  influence  which  music,  at  once  diverting 
and  fascinating,  exerts  on  a  darkened  or  morbidly 
excited  mind.  It  is  true  that  the  patient  listens  to 
the  sensuous,  rather  than  to  the  artistic  part  of 
the  music — yet,  if  he  can  but  fix  his  attention,  he 
proves  himself  capable  of  aesthetic  enjoyment,  though 
in  an  inferior  degree. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  115 

Now,  in  what  respect  do  all  these  musico- 
medical  works  contribute  towards  a  clear  knowledge 
of  music  ?  They  all  confirm  what  has  been  observed 
from  time  immemorial — namely,  that  with  the 
"feelings"  and  "passions"  aroused  by  music  there 
always  co-exists  a  strong  physical  agitation.  Once 
grant  the  assumption  that  an  integrant  part  of  the 
emotion  aroused  by  music  is  of  physical  origin,  and 
it  follows  that  the  phenomenon,  closely  related  as 
it  is  to  nerve  function,  must  be  studied  in  this,  its 
physical  aspect.  No  musician,  therefore,  can  expect 
a  scientific  solution  of  this  problem  without  making 
himself  acquainted  with  the  latest  results  of  physio- 
logical research  into  the  connection  between  music 
and  the  emotions. 

If  we  follow  the  course  which  a  melody  must 
take  in  order  to  operate  on  our  feelings,  we  shall 
find  it  traced  with  tolerable  accuracy  from  the 
vibrating  instrument  to  the  auditory  nerve,  thanks 
especially  to  Helmholtz's  famous  discoveries  in  this 
domain  of  science  recorded  in  his  work,  "  Lehre  von 
den  Tonempfindungen."  The  science  of  acoustics 
has  clearly  shown  what  the  outward  conditions  are, 
under  which  the  sensation  of  sound  in  general,  and 
of  any  sound  in  particular,  becomes  possible ; 
anatomy,  by  the  help  of  the  microscope,  has 
revealed  the  most  minute  and  secret  structures  of 
the  organ  of  hearing;  physiology,  in  fine,  though 
debarred  from  experimenting  directly  on  the 
extremely  small  and  delicate  constituents  of  this 
hidden  marvel  has,  nevertheless,  to  a  certain  extent, 
ascertained  its  modus  operandi,  and  to  a  still  greater 


Il6  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

extent  explained  it  by  a  theory  propounded  by 
Helmholtz,  so  as  to  render  the  whole  process 
by  which  we  become  conscious  of  sound  physio- 
logically intelligible.  Even  beyond  these  limits, 
in  the  domain  where  natural  science  comes  into 
close  contact  with  aesthetics,  much  has  been 
elucidated  by  Helmholtz's  theory  of  consonance 
and  the  affinities  of  sound,  which  until  lately  was 
shrouded  in  mystery.  But  this,  unfortunately,  is  the 
whole  extent  of  our  knowledge.  The  most  essential 
part,  the  physiological  process  by  which  the 
sensation  of  sound  is  converted  into  a  feeling,  a  state 
cf  mind,  is  unexplained,  and  will  ever  remain  so. 
Physiologists  know  that  what  our  senses  perceive  as 
sound  is,  objectively  speaking,  molecular  motion 
within  the  nerve  substance,  and  this  is  true  of  the 
nerve-centres  no  less  than  of  the  auditory  nerve. 
They  also  know  that  the  fibres  of  the  auditory  nerve 
are  connected  with  the  other  nerves,  to  which  they 
transmit  the  impulse  received,  and  that  the  organ  of 
hearing  is  connected  with  the  cerebrum  and  the 
cerebellum,  with  the  larynx,  the  lungs,  and  the  heart. 
About  the  specific  mode,  however,  in  which  music 
affects  these  nerves  they  know  nothing,  nor  yet 
about  the  different  ways  in  which  certain  musical 
factors,  such  as  chords,  rhythms,  and  the  sounds  of 
instruments  operate  on  different  nerves.  Is  a 
sensation  of  musical  sound  propagated  to  all  the 
nerves  connected  with  the  auditory  nerve,  or  only  to 
some  of  them  ?  With  what  degree  of  intensity? 
Which  musical  elements  affect  the  brain  more 
particularly,   and   which   the  nerves  supplying  the 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  117 

heart  and  the  lungs  ?  It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that 
dance-music  produces  in  young  people,  whose 
natural  inclination  is  not  controlled  by  social 
restraints,  a  twitching  of  the  whole  body,  and 
especially  of  the  feet.  We  cannot,  without  being 
one-sided,  dispute  the  physiological  action  of  martial 
or  dance  music,  and  attribute  its  effect  solely  to  a 
Psychological  association  of  ideas.  Its  psychological 
aspect — the  recollection  of  former  pleasures  derived 
from  dancing — helps  us  to  understand  the  phe- 
nomenon ;  but  taken  alone  it  does  not  explain  it. 
The  feet  do  not  move  because  it  is  dance-music,  but 
we  call  it  dance-music  because  it  makes  the  feet 
move.  Whoever  glances  around  in  an  opera  house 
will  notice  ladies  involuntarily  beating  the  time  with 
their  heads  to  any  lively  or  taking  tune,  but  never 
to  an  Adagio,  however  impressive  and  melodious 
it  may  be.  Should  we  infer  from  this  that  certain 
musical  factors,  and  more  particularly  rhythmical 
ones,  affect  the  motor  and  others  the  sensory 
nerves  ?  Which  affect  the  former  and  which  the 
latter  ?*     Is  the  solar  plexus,  which  is  reputed  to 


*  Carus  tries  to  account  for  the  motory  stimulus  by  supposing  the 
auditory  nerve  to  originate  in  the  cerebellum ;  the  latter  to  be  the 
seat  of  volition  ;  and  the  co-operation  of  the  two  to  be  the  cause  of 
the  phenomenon,  that  auditory  impressions  incite  us  to  acts  of 
courage,  &c.  But  this  is  a  very  lame  hypothesis,  seeing  that  science 
has  not  yet  proved  the  auditory  nerve  to  originate  in  the  cerebellum. 
Harless  (see  R.  Wagner's  Manual  of  Physiology,  "  The  function  of 
hearing")  maintains  that  the  mere  perception  of  rhythmical  motion, 
apart  from  auditory  impressions,  has  the  same  tendency  to  give  motory 
impulses  as  rhythmical  music.  But  this  doctrine  conflicts  with  our 
experience. 


Il8  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

be  pre-eminently  the  seat  of  sensation,  especially 
affected  by  music  ?  Or  is  it  the  sympathetic  ganglia 
(the  best  part  of  which  is  their  name,  as  Purkinje 
once  remarked  to  me)  which  are  so  affected  ?  Why 
one  sound  affects  us  as  shrill  and  harsh,  another 
one  as  clear  and  mellifluous,  the  science  of  acous- 
tics explains  by  the  irregularity  or  regularity  with 
which  the  sonorous  pulses  follow  each  other ;  again, 
that  several  simultaneously  occurring  sounds  pro- 
duce now  the  effect  of  consonance,  and  now  that  of 
dissonance,  is  accounted  for  by  the  slow  or  rapid 
succession  of  beats.*  The  explanations  of  more  or 
less  simple  sensations  of  sound,  however,  cannot 
satisfy  the  aesthetic  enquirer,  who  demands  an 
explanation  of  the  feeling  produced,  and  asks — how  it 
is  that  one  series  of  melodious  sounds  induces  a 
feeling  of  sadness,  and  another,  of  equally  melodious 
sounds,  a  feeling  of  joy  ?  Whence  the  diametrically 
opposed  moods  which  often  take  hold  of  us  with 
irresistible  force  on  hearing  chords  and  instruments 
of  different  kinds,  but  of  equally  pure  and  agreeable 
sound  ? 

To  all  this — at  least  as  far  as  our  knowledge  and 
judgment  go — physiologists  can  give  no  clue!  How, 
indeed,  can  they  be  expected  to  do  so  ?  For  they  can 
tell  us  neither  why  grief  makes  us  weep,  nor  why  joy 
makes  us  laugh — nay,  they  do  not  even  know  what 
grief  and  joy  are  !     Let  us,  therefore,  never  appeal 


*  Helmholtz,  M  Lehre  von  den  Tonempfindungen,"  2nd  edition, 
1870,  page  319. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  Iig 

to  a  science  for  explanations  which  it  cannot 
possibly  give.* 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  the  cause  of  every 
emotion  which  music  arouses  is  chiefly  to  be  found 
in  some  specific  mode  of  nerve  activity  induced  by  an 
auditory  impression.  But  how  the  excitation  of 
the  auditory  nerve  (which  we  cannot  even  trace 
to  its  source)  is  transformed  into  a  definite  sentiment ; 
how  a  physical  impression  can  pass  into  a  state  of 
mind ;  how,  in  fine,  a  sensation  can  become  an 
emotion — all  this  lies  beyond  the  mysterious  bridge 
which  no  philosopher  has  ever  crossed.  It  is  the 
one  great  problem  expressed  in  numberless  ways  : 
the  connection  between  mind  and  body.  This 
Sphinx  will  never  throw  herself  into  the  sea.f 

All  that  the  enquiries  into  the  physiological  aspect 
of  music  have  brought  to  light  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  for  the  correct  appreciation  of  audi- 
tory  impressions   as   such,    and    in   that    direction 


*  Lotze,  one  of  our  most  gifted  physiologists,  says  ("  Medicinische 
Psychologie,"  p.  237) :  "  A  careful  study  of  melodies  would  extort  from 
"  us  the  admission  that  we  know  nothing  whatever  about  the  conditions 
"  under  which  the  change  from  one  kind  of  nerve  excitation  to  another 
'becomes  the  physical  substratum  of  the  powerful  aesthetic  feelings 
"  which  vary  with  the  music."  With  respect  to  the  feeling  of  satisfac- 
tion or  discomfort  which  a  single  tone  may  evoke,  he  remarks 
(p.  236) :  "  It  is  a  matter  of  utter  impossibility  to  offer  a  physiological 
••  explanation  for  these  simple  sensations,  in  particular,  as  we  do  not 
"  know  with  any  degree  of  accuracy  in  what  respect  the  impressing 
,;  causes  affect  the  nerve  function,  and  we  are,  therefore,  quite  unable 
"  to  determine  to  what  extent  they  promote  or  impede  it." 

t  While  revising  the  fourth  edition  of  this  work,  the  author  came 
across  a  most  invaluable  corroboration  of  the  views  here  set  forth,  in 
Dubois-Reymonds' Speech  in  the  Science  Congress  of  1872,  in  Leipzig, 


120  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN    MUSIC. 

considerable  progress  may  yet  be  made.  But  with 
respect  to  the  main  issue  in  music,  we  shall  probably 
never  know  more  than  we  do  now. 

The  result  thus  arrived  at,  when  applied  to 
musical  aesthetics,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  those 
theorists  who  ground  the  beautiful  in  music  on  the 
feelings  it  excites  build  upon  a  most  uncertain 
foundation,  scientifically  speaking,  since  they  are 
necessarily  quite  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  this 
connection,  and  can  therefore,  at  best,  only  indulge 
in  speculations  and  flights  of  fancy.  An  interpreta- 
tion of  music  based  on  the  feelings  cannot  be 
acceptable  either  to  art  or  science.  A  critic  does 
not  substantiate  the  merit  or  subject  of  a  symphony 
by  describing  his  subjective  feelings  on  hearing  it, 
nor  can  he  enlighten  the  student  by  making  the 
feelings  the  starting-point  of  his  argument.  This  is 
of  great  moment;  for  if  the  connection  between 
certain  feelings  and  certain  modes  of  musical 
expression  were  so  well  established  as  some  seem, 
inclined  to  think,  and  as  it  ought  to  be  if  the  im- 
portance claimed  for  it  were  justified,  it  would  be 
an  easy  matter  to  lead  the  young  composer  onwards 
to  the  most  sublime  heights  of  his  art.  The  attempt 
to  do  this  has  actually  been  made.  Mattheson 
teaches  in  the  third  chapter  of  his  "  Vollkommener 
Capellmeister,"  how  pride,  humility,  and  all  the  other 
emotions  and  passions  are  to  be  translated  into 
music.  Thus  he  says:  "To  express  jealousy,  the 
"  music  must  have  something  grim,  sullen,  and 
"  doleful  about  it."  Heinchen,  another  writer  of  the 
last  century,  devotes  eight  pages  in  his  "  Generalbass ' 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC.  121 

to  actual  examples  of  the  modes  in  which  music 
should  express  the  "  feelings  of  an  impetuous, 
** factious,  pompous,  timorous,  or  love-sick  mind."* 
To  crown  the  absurdity,  directions  of  this  kind 
should  commence  with  the  formula  of  cookery- 
books  :  "  Take,"  &c,  or  with  that  of  medical 
prescriptions,  "  R."  Such  attempts  yield  the 
highly  instructive  lesson  that  specific  rules  of  art 
are  always  both  too  narrow  and  too  wide. 

These  inherently  fallacious  precepts  for  the  excita- 
tion of  definite  emotions  by  musical  means  have  so 
much  the  less  to  do  with  aesthetics,  as  the  effect 
aimed  at  is  not  a  purely  aesthetic  one,  an  inseparable 
portion  of  it  being  of  a  distinctly  physical  character. 
An  aesthetic  prescription  would  have  to  teach  the  com- 
poser how  to  produce  beauty  in  music,  and  not  how 
to  excite  particular  feelings  in  the  audience.  How 
impotent  these  rules  are  in  reality  is  best  proved  by 
considering  what  magic  power  they  must  possess  to 
be  efficacious.  For  if  the  action  of  every  musical 
factor  on  our  feelings  were  a  necessary  and  determin- 
able one,  we  should  be  able  to  play  on  the  mind  of 
the  listener,  as  on  the  keyboard  of  a  piano.  And 
even  assuming  this  to  be  possible — would  the  object 
of  music  be  attained  thereby?      This   is  the  only 

*  Greatly  amusing  are  the  discourses  of  v.  Bocklin,  Privy  Coun- 
cillor and  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  who  (on  page  34)  in  his  book, 
"Fragmente  zur  hoheren  Musik  "  (1811),  says  among  other  things: 
"  If  the  composer  wants  to  represent  an  offended  person,  outbursts 
"  of  aesthetic  warmth  must  follow  each  other  in  rapid  succession  ;  lofty 
"  strains  must  resound  with  extreme  vivacity ;  the  barytones  rave,  and 
"  terrific  blasts  inspire  the  expectant  listener  with  awe." 


122  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

legitimate  form  of  the  question,  and  to  it  none  but  a 
negative  reply  can  be  given.  Musical  beauty  alone 
is  the  true  power  which  the  composer  wields.  With 
this  for  his  pilot,  he  safely  passes  through  the  rapids 
of  time,  where  the  factor  of  emotion  would  be  power- 
less to  save  him  from  shipwreck. 

The  two  points  at  issue — namely,  what  the  dis- 
tinctive trait  is  of  a  feeling  aroused  by  music,  and 
whether  this  is  of  an  essentially  aesthetic  nature — 
are  settled  by  the  recognition  of  one  and  the  same 
fact :  the  intense  action  on  our  nervous  system.  This 
fact  explains  the  characteristic  force  and  directness 
with  which  music  (as  compared  with  arts  that  do 
not  employ  the  medium  of  sound)  is  capable  of 
exciting  emotions. 

But  the  more  overpowering  the  effect  is  in  a 
physical — i.e.,  in  a  pathological  sense,  the  less  is  it 
due  to  esthetic  causes ;  a  proposition,  by  the  way,  the 
terms  of  which  cannot  be  inverted.  In  connection 
with  the  production  and  interpretation  of  music, 
another  factor  must  be  emphasized,  which  in  anti- 
thesis to  a  specifically  musical  excitation  of  the 
feelings,  approximates  to  the  general  aesthetic  con- 
ditions of  all  the  other  arts.  This  factor  is  the  act 
of  pure  contemplation  (die  reine  Anschauung).  The 
next  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  the  study  of  its 
specific  function  in  music,  and  of  the  manifold 
relations  subsisting  between  it  and  our  sensibility. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  greatest  obstacle  to  a  scientific  development  of 
musical  aesthetics  has  been  the  undue  prominence 
given  to  the  action  of  music  on  our  feelings.  The 
more  violent  this  action  is,  the  louder  is  it  praised  as 
evidence  of  musical  beauty.  But  we  have  seen  that 
the  most  powerful  effects  of  music  are  mainly  to  be 
attributed  to  physical  excitement  on  the  part  of  the 
listener.  The  power  which  music  possesses  of 
profoundly  affecting  the  nervous  system  cannot  be 
ascribed  so  much  to  the  artistic  forms  created  by, 
and  appealing  to  the  mind,  as  to  the  material  with 
which  music  works  and  which  Nature  has  endowed 
with  certain  inscrutable  affinities  of  a  physiological 
order.  That  which  for  the  unguarded  feelings  of  so 
many  lovers  of  music  forges  the  fetters  which  they 
are  so  fond  of  clanking,  are  the  primitive  elements  of 
music — sound  and  motion.  Far  be  it  from  us  to 
loosen  the  legitimate  ties  which  connect  music  with 
the  emotions,  but  the  latter,  which  more  or  less 
always  co-exist  with  the  act  of  pure  contemplation, 
are  of  aesthetic  value  only  so  long  as  we  remain 
conscious  of  their  aesthetic  origin  ;  that  is,  so  long  as 
the  pleasure  is  solely  derived  from  viewing  a  thing 
of  beauty,  and  a  thing  of  beauty  just  in  this  particular 
form. 


124  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN    MUSIC. 

Where  this  consciousness  is  absent ,  where,  while 
contemplating  the  work  of  art,  we  are  labouring 
under  other  influences ;  where  the  mind  is  carried 
away  by  the  purely  physical  element  of  sound,  art, 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  can  pride  itself  the  less 
on  having  produced  this  effect  the  stronger  the 
effect  is.  The  number  of  those  who  thus  listen  to, 
or  rather  feel  music,  is  very  considerable.  While 
in  a  state  of  passive  receptivity  they  suffer  only  what 
is  elemental  in  music  to  affect  them,  and  thus  pass 
into  a  vague  "  supersensible "  excitement  of  the 
senses,  produced  by  the  general  drift  of  the  compo- 
sition. Their  attitude  towards  music  is  not  an 
observant  but  a  pathological  one.  They  are,  as  it 
were,  in  a  state  of  waking  dreaminess  and  lost  in  a 
sounding  nullity,  their  mind  is  constantly  on  the 
rack  of  suspense  and  expectancy.  If  to  a  musician 
who  considers  the  supreme  aim  of  music  to  be  the 
excitation  of  feelings  we  present  several  pieces,  say 
of  a  gay  and  sprightly  character,  they  will  all 
impress  him  alike.  His  feelings  assimilate  only 
what  these  pieces  have  in  common,  but  the  special 
features  of  the  composition  and  the  individuality  of 
its  artistic  interpretation  pass  unnoticed.  The 
truly  musical  listener,  however,  pursues  an  exactly 
opposite  course.  His  attention  is  so  greatly 
absorbed  by  the  particular  form  and  character  of  the 
composition,  by  that  which  gives  it  the  stamp  of 
individuality  among  a  dozen  pieces  of  similar 
complexion,  that  he  pays  but  little  heed  to  the 
question  whether  the  expression  of  the  same  or 
of  different   feelings   is   aimed   at.      The    habit   of 


THE    BEAUTIFUL    IN    MUSIC.  I25 

looking  only  for  some  abstract  feeling,  instead  of 
judging  the  concrete  work  of  art  is,  in  any  great 
measure,  practised  in  music  alone.  It  may  be 
likened  to  the  peculiar  effect  of  light  on  a  landscape, 
which  strikes  some  people  so  forcibly  as  to  prevent 
them  from  clearly  perceiving  the  illuminated  object 
itself.  A  general  impression,  unreasoned  and  there- 
fore doubly  obtrusive,  thrusts  itself  upon  their 
indiscriminating  senses.* 

Instead  of  closely  following  the  course  of  the 
music,  these  enthusiasts,  reclining  in  their  seats  and 
only  half-awake,  suffer  themselves  to  be  rocked  and 
lulled  by  the  mere  flow  of  sound.  The  sound  now 
waxing  and  now  diminishing  in  strength  ;  now  rising 
up  in  jubilant  strains  and  now  softly  dying  away, 
produces  in  them  a  series  of  vague  sensations  which 
they  in  their  simplicity  fancy  to  be  the  result  of 
intellectual  action.  They  are  the  most  easily  satisfied 
part  of  the  audience,  and  it  is  also  they  who  tend  to 
lower  the  dignity  of  music.  For  their  ear  the 
aesthetic  criterion  of  intelligent  gratification  is  wanting, 
and  a  good  cigar,  some  exquisite  dainty,  or  a  warm 
bath  yields  them  the  same  enjoyment  as  a  Symphony, 

•The  love-sick  Duke  in   Shakespeare's   "Twelfth    Night''   is  a 
poetic  personification  of  this  mode  of  hearing  music.     He  says : 

"  If  music  be  the  food  of  love,  play  on, 

Give  me  excess  of  it,"  &c. 
"  Oh,  it  came  o'er  my  ear  like  the  sweet  South 

That  breathes  upon  a  bank  of  violets 

Stealing  and  giving  odour." 
and  later  on,  in  the  second  Act,  he  exclaims  : 
"  Give  me  some  music,"  &c, 
••  Methought  it  did  relieve  my  passion  much,"  &c 


126  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

though  they  may  not  be  aware  of  the  fact.  In  the 
indolent  and  apathetic  attitude  of  some  and  the 
hysterical  raptures  of  others,  the  active  principle  is 
the  same — delight  in  the  elemental  property  of  music. 
To  recent  times,  by  the  way,  we  owe  a  discovery  of 
the  greatest  moment  for  such  listeners  as  merely 
wish  their  feelings  to  be  played  upon  to  the  exclusion 
of  their  intellect,  the  discovery  of  a  far  more  potent 
factor  than  music.  We  are  alluding  to  ether  and 
chloroform.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  an- 
aesthetics envelop  the  whole  organism  in  a  cloud  of 
delightful  and  dreamlike  sensations,  so  that  there  is 
no  longer  any  need  for  stooping  to  the  vulgar 
practice  of  wine-bibbing,  though  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  this,  too,  is  not  without  its  musical 
effect. 

From  this  point  of  view,  musical  compositions 
belong  to  the  class  of  spontaneous  products  of  nature, 
the  contemplation  of  which  charms  us,  without 
obliging  us  to  enter  into  the  thoughts  of  a  creative 
mind,  conscious  of  what  it  creates.  The  sweet 
exhalations  of  the  acacia  may  be  breathed  with 
closed  eyes  and  in  a  dream,  as  it  were;  but  creations 
.of  the  human  intellect  demand  a  different  attitude  of 
mind,  unless  we  would  drag  them  down  to  the  level 
of  mere  physical  stimulants.    ' 

No  other  art  lends  itself  so  readily  to  such  prac- 
tices as  music,  the  physical  side  of  which  admits  the 
possibility  at  least  of  an  unreasoning  enjoyment. 
The  fugitive  nature  of  sound,  as  compared  with  the 
enduring  effect  of  other  arts,  reminds  us  most  signifi- 
cantly of  the  act  of  imbibing. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  12? 

We  may  drink  in  a  melody,  but  not  a  picture,  a 
church,  or  a  drama.  For  this  reason  no  other  art 
can  be  turned  to  such  subservient  uses.  Even  the 
best  music  may  be  performed  at  a  banquet,  and 
promote  the  assimilation  of  indigestible  food.  Music 
is  at  once  the  most  imperative  and  the  most  in- 
dulgent of  all  arts.  A  barrel-organ  at  our  door  may 
force  us  to  hear  it,  but  not  even  a  Symphony  by 
Mendelssohn  can  compel  us  to  listen. 

This  objectionable  mode  of  hearing  music  is  by 
no  means  identical  with  the  naive  delight  which 
the  uncultured  masses  take  in  the  material  aspect  of 
the  various  arts,  while  its  ideal  aspect  is  manifest 
only  to  the  trained  understanding  of  the  few.  The 
unartistic  interpretation  of  a  piece  of  music  is 
derived,  on  the  contrary,  not  from  the  material 
part  properly  so-called,  not  from  the  rich  variety  of 
the  successions  of  sounds,  but  from  their  vague 
aggregate  effect,  which  impresses  them  as  an  un- 
definable  feeling.  This  explains  the  unique  position 
which  the  intellectual  element  in  music  occupies  in 
relation  to  form  and  substance  (subject).  The  senti- 
ment pervading  a  piece  of  music  is  habitually 
regarded  as  the  drift,  the  idea,  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
position ;  whereas  the  artistic  and  original  combination 
of  definite  successions  of  sound  is  said  to  be  the 
mere  form,  the  mould,  the  material  garb  of  those 
supersensible  elements.  But  it  is  precisely  the 
"  specifically-musical "  element  of  the  creation  of 
inventive  genius  which  the  contemplating  mind 
apprehends  and  assimilates.  These  concrete  musical 
images,   and   not   the    vague    impression  of    some 


123  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 

abstract  feeling,  constitute  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
position. The  form  (the  musical  structure)  is  the 
real  substance  (subject)  of  music — in  fact,  is  the  music 
itself,  in  antithesis  to  the  feeling,  its  alleged  subject, 
which  can  be  called  neither  its  subject  nor  its  form, 
but  simply  the  effect  produced.  In  like  manner 
that  which  is  regarded  as  purely  material,  as  the 
transmitting  medium,  is  the  product  of  a  thinking 
mind,  whereas  that  which  is  presumed  to  be  the 
subject — the  emotional  effect — belongs  to  the  physical 
properties  of  sound,  the  greater  part  of  which  is 
governed  by  physiological  laws. 

The  above  considerations  enable  us  to  put  down 
at  its  true  value  the  so-called  "moral  effect"  of 
music,  which  is  paraded  before  us  as  a  brilliant 
counterpart  to  the  already  mentioned  "physical 
effect,"  and  which  was  expatiated  on  so  often  by 
older  writers.  But  music  in  this  sense  is  not  in  the 
remotest  degree  enjoyed  as  a  thing  of  beauty,  since 
it  acts  like  a  brute  force  of  Nature  and  may  incite 
us  to  the  most  senseless  actions.  Its  function, 
therefore,  is  diametrically  opposed  to  truly  aesthetic 
enjoyment,  and  it  is  obvious  that  the  alleged  moral 
and  the  acknowledged  physical  effects  of  music  have 
a  good  deal  in  common. 

The  importunate  creditor,  who  by  his  debtor's 
music  is  induced  to  forgive  him  the  whole  debt,*  is 
affected  in  the  same  manner  as  one  who  by  the 
tune  of  a  waltz  is  suddenly  roused  from  repose  and 

•  This  is  related  of  the  Neapolitan  singer  Palma,  and  of  others. 
("Anecdotes  on  Music,'' by  A.  Burgh,  1814.) 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN    MUSIC.  129 

impelled  to  dance.  The  former  is  moved  by  the 
subtle  elements  of  harmony  and  melody,  the  latter 
by  the  more  palpable  one  of  rhythm.  Neither  of 
them  acts  of  his  own  free  will,  neither  of  them  is 
overwhelmed  by  a  superior  mind  or  by  moral  beauty, 
but  simply  in  consequence  of  a  powerful  nervous 
stimulus.  Music  loosens  the  feet  or  the  heart  just 
as  wine  loosens  the  tongue.  But  such  victories  only 
testify  to  the  weakness  of  the  vanquished.  To  be 
the  slave  of  unreasoning,  undirected,  and  purposeless 
feelings,  ignited  by  a  power  which  is  out  of  all 
relation  to  our  will  and  intellect,  is  not  worthy  of  the 
human  mind.  If  people  allow  themselves  to  be  so 
completely  carried  away  by  what  is  elemental  in 
art  as  to  lose  all  self-control,  this  scarcely  redounds 
to  the  glory  of  the  art,  and  much  less  to  that  of  the 
individual. 

It  is  by  no  means  the  object  of  music  to  handicap 
the  mind  with  such  tendencies,  but  its  intense 
action  on  the  emotional  faculty  renders  an  enjoyment 
in  this  sense,  at  all  events,  possible.  This  is  the 
cause  of  the  oldest  attacks  on  music,  grounded  on 
the  reproach  that  it  enervates,  effeminates,  and 
benumbs  its  votaries. 

And  this  reproach  is  but  too  well  merited  wherever 
music  is  performed  only  to  excite  "indefinite  feelings " 
and  to  supply  food  for  the  "  emotions."  Beethoven 
wanted  music  "  to  strike  fire  in  the  mind,"  at  least 
"  it  ought  to  do  so,"  he  thought.  But  is  it  not  just 
possible  that  the  fire  kindled  and  fed  by  music  may 
prevent  the  development  of  that  strength  of  will  and 
power  of  intellect  which  man  is  capable  of? 

1 


130  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

This  stricture  on  the  influence  of  music  seems  to 
us,  in  any  case,  more  dignified  than  extravagant 
praises.  As  the  physical  effect  of  music  varies  with 
the  morbid  excitability  of  the  nervous  system,  so 
the  moral  influence  of  sound  is  in  proportion  to  the 
crudeness  of  mind  and  character.  The  lower  the 
degree  of  culture,  the  greater  the  potency  of  the 
agent  in  question.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
action  of  music  is  most  powerful  of  all  in  the  case 
of  savages. 

But  that  does  not  discourage  these  experts  in 
musical  ethics.  They  love  to  quote  as  a  kind  of 
introduction  the  numerous  instances  of  "  animals 
even  "  yielding  to  the  power  of  music.  It  is  true 
that  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  inspires  the  horse 
with  courage  and  an  eagerness  for  the  battle,  that 
the  fiddle  tempts  the  bear  to  waltz,  and  that  both 
the  nimble  spider  and  the  clumsy  elephant  move  to 
its  fascinating  strains.  But  is  it,  after  all,  so  great 
an  honour  to  be  a  musical  enthusiast  in  such 
company  ? 

After  these  animal  accomplishments  come  the 
attainments  of  man.  They  are  mostly  of  the  kind 
related  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  became  furious 
on  hearing  Timotheus  perform  on  the  flute,  and 
cooled  down  under  the  influence  of  a  song.  The 
less  notorious  Ericus  Bonus,  King  of  Denmark,  in 
order  to  convince  himself  of  the  famous  power  of 
music,  summoned  a  renowned  musician  to  play 
before  him,  but  not  until  every  kind  of  weapon  was 
put  out  of  reach.  By  the  choice  of  his  modulations, 
the  minstrel  first  cast  on  all  around  him  a  gloom, 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I3I 

which  he  presently  changed  into  hilarity.  This 
hilarity  he  gradually  worked  up  into  a  feeling  of 
frenzy.  "  Even  the  king  rushed  out  of  the  room, 
"  seized  his  sword,  and  slew  four  of  the  bystanders." 
(Albert  Krantzius  ;  dan.  lib.  v.,  cap.  3.)  And  that, 
be  it  noted,  was  "  Eric  the  good." 

If  such  "  moral  effects "  of  music  were  still  in 
vogue,  we  should  probably  be  in  too  chronic  a  state 
of  indignation  ever  to  have  the  mental  calm  neces- 
sary for  a  dispassionate  survey  of  this  weird  power, 
which  with  arrogant  "  exterritorialness  "  subjugates 
and  confuses  the  human  mind,  without  in  the  least 
regarding  its  thoughts  and  resolutions. 

The  reflection,  however,  that  the  most  famous  of 
these  musical  trophies  have  been  won  in  the 
remote  past,  inclines  us  to  view  them  in  the  light 
of  history  only. 

It  is  beyond  all  question  that  the  action  of  music 
was  far  more  direct  in  the  case  of  ancient  races 
than  it  is  with  us,  because  mankind  is  much  more 
easily  impressed  by  elemental  forces  in  a  primitive 
state  of  culture  than  later  on,  when  intellectual 
consciousness  and  the  faculty  of  reflection  have 
attained  a  higher  degree  of  maturity.  This  natural 
sensitiveness  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  peculiar 
condition  of  music  during  the  Grecian  era.  Music 
of  that  era  was  no  art  in  the  present  acceptation  of 
the  term.  Sound  and  rhythm  discharged  their 
functions  in  almost  isolated  independence,  and  in  their 
poverty-stricken  ostentation  took  the  place  of  those 
rich  and  ingenious  forms  which  constitute  the  music  of 
our  days.     All  we^  know  about  the  music  of  those 


132  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

times  points  to  the  conclusion  that  its  function  was 
purely  sensuous,  though,  within  such  limits,  sus- 
ceptible of  considerable  refinement.  Judged  by  the 
modern  standard  of  art,  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
music  in  the  age  of  the  ancient  classics  ;  otherwise 
it  would  never  have  disappeared,  but  would  have 
played  just  as  important  a  part  in  the  subsequent 
development  of  the  art,  as  classical  poetry,  sculpture, 
and  architecture  have  done.  The  love  of  the  Greeks 
for  a  profound  study  of  their  extremely  subtle 
relations  of  sound  is  a  purely  scientific  question  and 
foreign  to  the  present  enquiry. 

The  lack  of  harmony,  the  poverty  of  the  melody 
within  the  extremely  narrow  limits  of  the  Recitative, 
and  finally  the  impossibility  of  expanding  the  ancient 
system  into  a  multiformity  of  truly  musical  images 
absolutely  disqualified  music,  as  then  understood,  for 
the  position  of  an  art  in  a  musical  sense.  Nor  had 
it  an}'  really  independent  function,  being  always  used 
in  connection  with  poetry,  dancing,  and  pantomimic 
representation ;  in  other  words,  as  an  adjunct  of 
other  arts.  The  sole  office  of  music  was  to  give  life 
to  the  rhythmical  beats,  to  the  sounds  of  the  various 
instruments,  and  lastly,  as  an  intensification  of 
declamatory  recitative,  to  comment  words  and  feelings. 
The  action  of  music  was  limited,  therefore,  more 
particularly  to  its  sensuous  and  symbolic  side.  The 
attention  being  exclusively  directed  to  these  factors, 
this  concentration  naturally  developed  them  into 
effect-producing  media  of  considerable  strength— nay, 
of  great  subtlety.  The  music  of  the  present  day  knows 
just  as  little  of  the  prodigious  •elaboration   of  the 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I33 

musical  material,  going  the  length  of  using  even 
"  demi-semitones,"  and  "  the  enharmonic  family  of 
sound,"  as  of  the  specific  character  of  each  individual 
key  and  its  close  adaptation  to  the  words  both 
spoken  and  sung.  These  subtle  relations  within 
their  narrow  sphere,  moreover,  were  destined  for  the 
appreciation  of  a  much  more  sensitive  audience. 
Just  as  the  Greek  ear  was  able  to  perceive  infinitely 
finer  differences  of  interval  than  ours,  exposed  as  it  is 
to  a  constantly  varying  temperature,  so  those  races 
were  by  nature  far  more  susceptible  and  fonder  of 
emotional  changes  wrought  by  music  than  are  we, 
who  take  a  meditative  delight  in  the  ingenious  forms 
which  music  conjures  up,  a  delight  which  tends  to 
paralyze  the  elemental  influence  of  sound.  There 
is  no  difficulty,  therefore,  in  comprehending  why 
the  action  of  music  was  more  intense  in  ancient 
times. 

The  same  applies  to  a  small  number  of  those 
anecdotes  which  record  the  specific  effects  produced 
by  the  several  modes  of  the  Greeks.  Their  ex- 
planation is  to  be  found  in  the  scrupulous  isolation 
of  the  various  modes,  each  mode  being  selected  for 
a  definite  purpose  to  the  complete  exclusion  of  any 
alien  admixture.  The  Doric  mode  was  employed  on 
solemn,  and  particularly  on  religious  occasions ;  by 
means  of  the  Phrygian  the  Greeks  fired  their  armies 
with  courage ;  the  Lydian  signified  mourning  and 
sadness  ;  while  wherever  the  Eolian  resounded  love- 
making  and  banqueting  was  the  order  of  the  day. 
This  rigid  and  conventional  division  into  four 
principal  modes,  answering   to   as   many   states  of 


134  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

mind,  and  the  circumstance  that  no  poem  was 
ever  recited  to  any  but  its  corresponding  mode,  could 
not  but  give  to  the  mind  a  decided  tendency  to  recall 
at  the  sounds  of  a  certain  musical  mode  the  feeling 
associated  with  it.  As  a  result  of  this  one-sided 
culture  music  had  become  an  indispensable  and  docile 
accessory  of  all  the  arts,  a  means  for  the  attainment 
of  educational,  political,  and  other  ends  ;  it  was  a 
maid-of-all-work  but  not  a  self-subsistent  art.  If  the 
strains  of  Phrygian  music  sufficed  to  incite  warriors 
to  acts  of  bravery,  if  the  faithfulness  of  grass-widows 
could  be  secured  by  Doric  songs,  let  generals  and 
husbands  lament  the  extinction  of  the  Greek  system — 
students  of  aesthetics  and  composers  will  cast  no 
regrets  after  it. 

This  morbid  sensitiveness,  in  our  opinion,  is  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  voluntary  and  pure  act  of 
contemplation  which  alone  is  the  true  and  artistic 
method  of  listening.  Compared  to  it  the  ecstasies  of 
the  musical  enthusiast  sink  to  the  level  of  the  crude 
emotion  of  the  savage.  The  beautiful  is  not 
suffered  but  enjoyed,  and  the  term  "aesthetic  enjoy- 
ment "  clearly  confirms  this  fact.  Sentimentalists 
regard  it,  of  course,  as  heresy  against  the  omnipotence 
of  music  to  take  exception  to  the  emotional  revolutions 
and  conflicts  which  they  discover  in  every  musical 
composition,  and  of  which  they  never  fail  to  experience 
the  full  force.  Those  who  cannot  agree  with  them 
are  "  callous,"  "  apathetic,"  "  cold  reasoners."  No 
matter.  It  is,  nevertheless,  both  ennobling  and 
elevating  to  follow  the  creative  mind  as  it  unlocks 
with  magic  keys  a  new  world  of  elements,  and  to 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I35 

observe  how  at  its  bidding  they  enter  into  all  con- 
ceivable combinations  ;  how  it  builds  up  and  casts 
down,  creates  and  destroys,  controlling  the  whole 
wealth  of  an  art  which  exalts  the  ear  to  an  organ  of 
sense  of  the  greatest  delicacy  and  perfection.  That 
which  calls  forth  from  us  a  sympathetic  response  is 
not  in  the  least  the  passion  professed  to  be  described. 
With  a  willing  mind,  calm  but  acutely  sensitive, 
we  enjoy  the  work  of  art  as  it  passes  before  us  and 
thoroughly  realise  the  meaning  of  what  Schelling  so 
felicitously  terms  "  the  sublime  indifference  of 
Beauty."*  Thus  to  enjoy  with  a  keenly  observant 
mind  is  the  most  dignified  and  salutary  mode, 
and  by  no  means  the  easiest  one,  of  listening  to 
music. 

The  most  important  factor  in  the  mental  process 
which  accompanies  the  act  of  listening  to  music,  and 
which  converts  it  into  a  source  of  pleasure,  is 
frequently  overlooked.  We  here  refer  to  the  intel- 
lectual satisfaction  which  the  listener  derives  from 
continually  following  and  anticipating  the  composer's 
intentions — now,  to  see  his  expectations  fulfilled, 
and  now,  to  find  himself  agreeably  mistaken.  It  is  a 
matter  of  course  that  this  intellectual  flux  and 
reflux,  this  perpetual  giving  and  receiving  takes  place 
unconsciously,  and  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning- 
flashes.  Only  that  music  can  yield  truly  aesthetic 
enjoyment  which  prompts  and  rewards  the  act  of 
thus  closely  following  the  composer's  thoughts,  and 
which  with  perfect  justice  may  be  called  a  pondering 


*"  Ueber  das  Verhaltniss  der  bildenden  Kunste  zur  Natur." 


I36  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

of  the  imagination.  Indeed,  without  mental  activity 
no  aesthetic  enjoyment  is  possible.  But  the  kind  of 
mental  activity  alluded  to  is  quite  peculiar  to  music, 
because  its  products,  instead  of  being  fixed  and 
presented  to  the  mind  at  once  in  their  completeness, 
develop  gradually  and  thus  do  not  permit  the 
listener  to  linger  at  any  point,  or  to  interrupt  his 
train  of  thoughts.  It  demands,  in  fact,  the  keenest 
watching  and  the  most  untiring  attention.  In  the 
case  of  intricate  compositions,  this  may  even  become 
a  mental  exertion.  Many  an  individual,  nay,  many 
a  nation  undertakes  this  exertion  only  with  great 
reluctance.  The  monopoly  of  the  soprano  in  the 
Italian  School  is  mainly  due  to  the  mental  indolence 
of  the  Italian  people,  who  are  incapable  of  that 
assiduous  fixing  of  the  attention  so  characteristic  of 
Northern  races,  when  listening  to,  and  enjoying  a 
musical  chef  d'eeuvre,  with  all  its  intricacies  of 
harmony  and  counterpoint.  On  the  other  hand, 
those  whose  store  of  mental  energy  is  but  small  are 
more  easily  gratified,  and  such  musical  topers  can 
consume  quantities  of  music  from  which  the  aesthetic 
mind  would  shrink  with  dismay. 

Mental  activity  is  a  necessary  concomitant  in  every 
aesthetic  enjoyment  and  often  varies  very  consider- 
ably in  several  individuals,  listening  to  one  and  the 
same  composition.  In  the  case  of  sensual  and 
emotional  natures  it  may  sink  to  a  minimum,  whereas 
in  highly  intellectual  persons  it  alone  may  turn 
the  scale.  It  is  the  latter  type  of  mind  which 
in  our  opinion  comes  nearest  to  the  "  golden 
mean.'"    To  become  intoxicated   nothing  but  weak- 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC.  I37 

ness  is  required,  but  truly  esthetic  listening  is  an  art 
in  itself.* 

The  habit  of  revelling  in  sensations  and  emotions 
is  generally  limited  to  those  who  have  not  the 
preparatory  knowledge  for  the  aesthetic  appreciation 
of  musical  beauty.  With  the  technically  uninitiated 
"  the  feelings  "  play  a  predominant  part,  while,  in 
the  case  of  the  trained  musician,  they  are  quite  in 
the  background.  The  greater  the  aesthetic  element 
in  the  listener's  mind  (just  as  in  the. work  of  art), 
the  more  it  counterbalances  purely  sensuous  in- 
fluences.     It    is    for    this   reason   that    the   time- 


*  It  is  quite  in  keeping  with  W.  Heinse's  enthusiastic  and  dissolute 
nature,  to  subordinate  to  a  vague  emotional  impression  the  positive 
attributes  of  musical  beauty.  He  goes  so  far  (in  "Hildegard  von 
Hohenthal")  as  to  say:  "True  music  ....  invariably  aims  at 
"  conveying  to  the  listener  the  meaning  of  the  words  and  the  feelings 
•'  they  express,  and  it  discharges  this  function  so  well  and  pleasantly, 
*'  that  we  are  almost  unconscious  of  it  (the  music).  Such  music 
*'  endures  for  ever;  it  is  so  natural  that  zvc  cease  to  be  conscious  of  it  as 
**  music,  and  only  catch  the  meaning  of  the  words." 

The  aesthetic  appreciation  of  music,  however,  is  only  possible 
when  our  mind  is  fully  awake;  when  we  are  "conscious"  of  the 
music,  and  perfectly  realise  all  its  points  of  beauty.  Heinse,  to 
whose  naturalism  we  must  pay  that  tribute  of  admiration  to  which 
it  is  entitled,  has  been  greatly  overrated  as  a  poet,  and  still  more  as 
a  musician.  In  consequence  of  the  paucity  of  original  treatises  on 
music,  Heinse  has  gradually  come  to  be  regarded  and  quoted  as 
one  of  the  best  writers  on  musical  aesthetics.  How  could  the  fact 
ever  be  overlooked  that,  after  a  few  appropriate  remarks,  there  forth- 
with comes  such  a  flood  of  platitudes  and  manifest  errors,  as  to 
make  us  marvel  at  so  extraordinary  an  absence  of  culture  ?  His 
want  of  technical  knowledge  is  coupled  with  an  unsound  aesthetic 
judgment, of  which  his  analyses  of  operas  by  Gluck,  Jomelli,  Traetta, 
and  others  afford  abundant  proof.  Instead  of  throwing  any  light  on 
the  subject  -of  art,  they  contain  scarcely  anything  but  enthusiastic 
exclamations. 


138  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

honoured  axiom  of  the  theorists:  "Grave  music 
"  excites  a  feeling  of  sadness,  and  lively  music  makes 
"  us  merry,"  is  not  always  correct.  If  every  shallow 
Requiem,  every  noisy  funeral  march,  and  every 
whining  Adagio  had  the  power  to  make  us  sad,  who- 
would  care  to  prolong  his  existence  in  such  a  world  ? 
A  composition  that  looks  us  in  the  face  with  the 
bright  eyes  of  beauty  would  make  us  glad,  though 
its  object  were  to  picture  all  the  woes  of  the  age  ; 
but  the  obstreperous  gaiety  of  a  Finale  by  Verdi,  or 
a  Quadrille  by  Musard,  has  not  always  had  a 
cheering  effect  on  us. 

The  untrained  amateur  and  the  musical  senti- 
mentalist are  wont  to  ask  whether  the  music  is  gay 
or  mournful,  whereas  the  instructed  musician-, 
enquires  whether  it  is  good  or  bad.  The  shadow 
cast  by  such  questions  plainly  indicates  the  different 
positions  in  which  the  querists  stand  towards  the 
source  of  light. 

Although  we  assert  that  true  aesthetic  enjoyment 
depends  upon  the  musical  merit  of  the  composition, 
it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  simple  call  of  a  bugle: 
or  the  sounds  of  "  yodelling  "  in  the  mountains  may 
not  at  times  afford  us  much  greater  delight  than  the 
most  exquisite  Symphony.  But  in  cases  such  as 
these  music  comes  under  the  head  of  the  unassisted  charms 
of  Nature  as  distinguished  from  art.  The  impression  is 
not  produced  by  this  particular  combination  of  sounds 
but  by  this  special  kind  of  natural  action,  and  in  point 
of  force  it  may,  in  conjunction  with  the  rural  beauty 
of  the  surroundings  and  the  individual  frame  of  mind, 
eclipse  any  aesthetic  enjoyment  whatsoever.     The 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC.  I39. 

purely  elemental  may,  therefore,  preponderate  over 
the  artistic.  Yet  aesthetics,  as  the  science  of  the 
beautiful  in  art,  can  judge  music  only  in  the  sense  of 
an  art  and  can,  therefore,  take  cognizance  of  nothing: 
but  those  effects  which,  as  products  of  the  human 
mind,  come  within  the  scope  of  pure  contemplation 
in  consequence  of  the  definite  grouping  of  the 
primary  factors. 

Now  the  most  essential  condition  to  the  aesthetic 
enjoyment  of  music  is  that  of  listening  to  a  compo- 
sition for  its  own  sake,  no  matter  what  it  is  or  what 
construction  it  may  bear.  The  moment  music  is 
used  as  a  means  to  induce  certain  states  of  mind,  as 
accessory  or  ornamental,  it  ceases  to  be  an  art  in  a 
purely  musical  sense.  The  elemental  properties  of 
music  are  very  frequently  confounded  with  its  artistic 
beauty,  in  other  words,  a  part  is  taken  for  the  whole, 
and  unutterable  confusion  ensues.  Hundreds  of 
sayings  about  "  music  "  do  not  apply  to  the  art  as- 
such,  but  to  the  sensuous  action  of  its  material  only. 

When  Shakespeare's  Henry  the  Fourth  calls  for 
music  on  his  deathbed  (Part  II.,  Act  iv.),  it  is  most 
assuredly  not  to  listen  attentively  to  the  performance, 
but  to  lull  himself  with  its  ethereal  elements,  as  in  a 
dream.  Nor  are  Portia  and  Bassanio  ("  Merchant  of 
Venice,"  Act  III.)  likely  to  have  greatly  heeded  the 
music  which  was  being  played  during  the  ominous 
choosing  of  the  casket.  F.  Strauss  has  composed 
charming,  nay,  highly  original  music  for  his  Waltzes, 
but  it  ceases  to  be  such  when  it  is  solely  used  to  beat 
time  for  the  dancers.  In  all  these  cases  it  is 
utterly  indifferent  of  what  quality  the  music  is,  so  long 


T40  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

as  it  has  the  fundamental  character  needed  for  the 
occasion,  and  wherever  the  question  of  individuality 
is  a  matter  of  indifference  we  get  a  scries  of  sounds, 
but  no  music.  Only  he  who  carries  away  with  him, 
not  simply  the  vague  after-effect  of  his  feelings,  but  a 
definite  and  lasting  impression  of  the  particular 
composition,  has  truly  heard  and  relished  it.  Those 
impressions  which  elevate  our  minds,  and  their 
supreme  significance  both  in  a  psychical  and 
a  physiological  sense,  should  not,  however,  hinder 
the  art-critic  from  distinguishing  in  any  given  effect 
between  its  sensuous  and  its  aesthetic  element.  From 
an  aesthetic  point  of  view  music  ought  to  be  regarded 
as  an  effect  rather  than  a  cause,  as  a  product  rather 
than  a  producing  agent. 

Just  as  frequently  as  people  confuse  the  elemental 
action  of  sound  with  music  proper  do  they  fail  to 
distinguish  the  latter  from  the  principles  of  rhythm 
and  euphony,  and  from  properties  such  as  quiescence 
and  motion,  dissonance  and  consonance.  The 
present  state  of  music  and  philosophy  forbid  us,  in 
the  interest  of  both,  to  acquiesce  in  the  expansion  of 
the  term  "  music  "  to  the  extent  understood  by  the 
ancient  Greeks,  who  used  music  in  connection  with 
all  sciences  and  arts  and  the  training  of  the  mental 
faculties.  The  famous  eulogy  of  music  in  "  The 
Merchant  of  Venice"  (V.,  i.)*  is  the  result  of  such  a 
confusion   of  ideas,  music  itself  being   confounded 


The  man  that  has  no  music  in  himself, 

Nor  is  not  moved  with  concord  of  sweet  sounds, 

Is  fit  for  treasons,  stratagems,  and  spoils,"  &c. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I4I 

with  its  principles  of  euphony,  consonance,  and 
rhythm.  In  aphorisms  of  this  kind  we  may, 
without  greatly  altering  the  sense,  substitute  for 
"  music  "  such  words  as  "  poetry,"  "  art  " — nay, 
"  beauty."  The  preference  over  the  other  arts, 
which  music  generally  enjoys,  is  due  to  its  somewhat 
questionable  attribute  of  popularity.  Proof  of  this  is 
to  be  found  in  the  immediately  preceding  verses  of 
the  quoted  passage,  which  are  full  of  praise  of  the 
soothing  effect  which  music  has  on  animals,  thus 
making  it  once  again  play  the  part  of  a  Van  Aken. 

The  most  instructive  examples  are  to  be  met  with 
in  Bettina's  "  Musical  Explosions,"  as  Goethe 
politely  styled  her  letters  on  music.  Bettina,  as  the 
genuine  type  of  a  musical  enthusiast,  shows  how 
improperly  the  meaning  of  the  term  "  music  "  may  be 
widened,  in  order  to  turn  it  freely  to  any  use. 
Though  ostensibly  speaking  of  music,  she  always 
talks  about  the  mysterious  influence  on  her  mind, 
and  she  wilfully  incapacitates  herself  for  a  dis- 
passionate investigation  by  luxuriating  in  the  dreams 
of  a  lively  imagination.  A  musical  composition  she 
invariably  regards  as  a  kind  of  natural  product,  and 
not  as  a  creation  of  the  human  mind.  She,  therefore, 
always  understands  music  only  in  a  purely  phenom- 
enological  sense.  The  terms,  "music,"  "  musical," 
Bettina  applies  to  innumerable  phenomena,  simply 
because  they  happen  to  have  one  attribute  or 
another  in  common  with  music,  such  as  euphony, 
rhythm,  and  the  power  of  exciting  emotions.  The 
question,  however,  does  not  turn  on  these  isolated 
factors,  but  on  the  specific  mode  in  which  they  are 


142  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

combined,  and  through  which  they  are  elevated  to 
the  rank  of  an  art.  It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  this 
romantic  lady  considers  Goethe,  nay,  Christ  Himself, 
as  great  musicians,  though  nobody  knows  whether 
the  latter  was  one,  and  everybody  knows  that  the 
former  was  not. 

We  respect  historical  modes  of  viewing  things  and 
the  right  of  poetic  licence,  and  can  quite  understand 
why  Aristophanes,  in  his  "  Wasps,"  applies  the 
epithets  "  wise  and  musical  "  (aotyov  ko»  ^ovaiKuv)  to  a 
highly-cultured  mind.  Count  Reinhardt's  saying, 
too,  that  Oehlenschlager  had  "  musical  eyes  "  is  very 
significant.  In  scientific  enquiries,  however,  we 
must  exclude  from  the  term  "  music  "  any  but  its 
aesthetic  meaning,  unless  we  are  to  abandon  all  hope 
ever  to  establish  this  protean  science  on  firm 
■ground. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

To  view  a  thing  in  its  relation  to  Nature  is  a 
proceeding  of  prime  importance,  and  one  likely  to 
lead  to  most  momentous  results.  Whoever  has 
even  slightly  felt  the  pulse  of  the  times,  knows  that 
this  conviction  is  rapidly  gaining  ground.  In  all 
modern  research  there  is  a  strong  leaning  to  study 
phenomena  by  the  light  of  the  laws  of  nature,  so 
that  enquiries  even  into  the  most  abstruse  subjects 
gravitate  perceptibly  towards  the  method  obtaining 
in  the  natural  sciences.  The  science  of  (Esthetics, 
too,  unless  it  be  satisfied  with  a  sort  of  sham 
existence,  ought  to  know  the  knotty  root  as  well  as 
the  delicate  fibre  by  which  every  individual  art  is 
connected  with  the  natural  order  of  things.  Now, 
the  relation  subsisting  between  music  and  Nature 
discloses  the  most  pregnant  truths  in  respect  of 
musical  aesthetics,  and  on  the  just  appreciation  of  this 
relation  depends  the  treatment  of  its  most  difficult  sub- 
jects and  the  solution  of  its  most  debatable  points. 

Art — considered,  first  of  all,  as  passive,  not  as 
active — stands  in  a  twofold  relation  to  surrounding 
Nature  :  primarily,  in  respect  of  the  crude  matter 
from  which  it  produces  ;  and  secondly,  in  respect  of 
the  forms  of  beauty  which  the  external  world  affords 
it  for  artistic  reproduction.  In  both  cases,  Nature 
stands  to  art  in  the  position  of  a  kindly  benefactress, 
by  supplying  the  most  vital  and  essential  require- 


144  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

ments.  It  must  now  be  our  endeavour  to  quickly 
review  these  resources  in  the  interest  of  musical 
aesthetics,  and  to  enquire  what  share  of  the  rational, 
and,  therefore,  unequal  gifts  of  Nature  has  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  music. 

On  examining  in  what  sense  Nature  provides 
music  with  its  material,  we  find  that  she  supplies 
nothing  but  the  rough  elements,  from  which  man 
contrives  to  elicit  sounds.  The  silent  ore  of  the 
mountains,  the  wood  of  the  forest,  the  skin  and  gut 
of  animals,  is  all  that  constitutes  the  raw  material, 
properly  so-called,  with  which  the  musical  note  is 
formed.  At  the  outset,  therefore,  we  are  furnished 
only  with  material  for  the  production  of  material, 
that  is,  of  sound  of  high  or  low  pitch ;  in  other  words, 
the  measurable  tone.  The  latter  is  the  primary  and 
essential  condition  of  all  music,  whose  function  it  is 
to  so  combine  these  tones  as  to  produce  melody  and 
harmony,  its  two  main  factors.  Neither  of  them  is 
provided  for  us  by  Nature  ready  made,  but  both  are 
creations  of  the  human  mind. 

The  systematic  succession  of  measurable  tones 
which  we  call  melody  is  not  to  be  met  with  in  Nature, 
even  in  its  most  rudimentary  form .  Sound-phenomena 
in  unassisted  Nature  present  no  intelligible  propor- 
tions, nor  can  they  be  reduced  to  our  scale.  Melody, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  the  "  initial  force,"  the  life-blood, 
the  primitive  cell  of  the  musical  organism,  with 
which  the  drift  and  development  of  the  composition 
are  closely  bound  up. 

Just  as  little  as  melody,  do  we  find  in  Nature — the 
sublime  harmony  of  its  phenomena  notwithstanding — ■ 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC  I45 

harmony  in  a  musical  sense,  the  simultaneous 
occurrence  of  certain  notes.  Has  anybody  ever  heard 
a  triad,  a  chord  of  the  sixth  or  the  seventh  in 
Nature  ?  Harmony  like  melody  is  an  achievement 
of  man,  only  belonging  to  a  much  later  period. 

The  Greeks  knew  of  no  harmony,  but  sang  in 
octaves  or  in  unison,  just  as  do  at  the  present  time 
those  Asiatic  tribes  who  are  known  to  sing.  The 
use  of  dissonances  (among  which  we  must  include 
the  third  and  the  sixth)  came  gradually  into 
vogue  in  the  twelfth  century,  while  as  late  as 
the  fifteenth  century,  to  effect  modulations,  the 
octave  only  was  used.  All  the  intervals  which 
our  present  system  of  harmony  puts  into 
requisition  had  to  be  discovered  one  by  one,  and 
often  more  than  a  century  was  needed  for  so 
insignificant  an  acquisition.  Neither  the  race  that 
most  cultivated  art  in  ancient  times,  nor  the  most 
erudite  composers  of  the  early  part  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  able  to  do  what  our  shepherdesses 
of  the  most  out-of-the-way  mountains  can  do  at  the 
present  day — to  sing  in  thirds.  It  must  not  be 
supposed,  however,  that  the  introduction  of  harmony 
was  an  additional  source  of  light  to  music,  for  it  was 
through  harmony  that  the  art  first  emerged  from  utte/ 
darkness.  "  Music,  properly  so-called,  was  not  born 
until  then  "  (Nageli). 

We  have  seen  that  Nature  is  destitute  both  of 
melody  and  harmony ;  but  there  is  a  third  factor 
regulating  the  two  former,  which  existed  prior  to 
man,  and  is  consequently  not  of  his  creation.  This 
factor  is  rhythm.     In  the  galloping  of  the  horse,  the 

K 


I46  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

clack  ot  the  mill,  the  singing  of  the  blackbird  and  the 
quail,  there  is  an  element  of  periodically  recurring 
motion  in  the  successive  beats  which,  when  looked 
at  in  the  aggregate,  blend  into  an  intelligible  whole. 
Not  all,  yet  many  sounds  in  Nature  are  rhythmical, 
and  in  these  the  principle  of  duple-time  rhythm 
(manifesting  itself  in  the  rise  and  fall,  the  ebb  and 
flow)  is  invariably  discernible.  But  the  point  in 
which  natural  rhythm  differs  from  human  music  is 
obvious :  in  music  there  is  no  independent  rhythm  ; 
it  occurs  only  in  connection  with  melody  and  harmony 
expressed  in  rhythmical  order.  Rhythm  in  Nature, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  associated  neither  with  melody 
nor  harmony,  but  is  perceptible  only  in  aerial 
vibrations,  that  cannot  be  reduced  to  a  definite 
quantity.  It  is  the  only  musical  element  which 
Nature  possesses,  the  first  we  are  conscious  of,  and 
that  with  which  the  mind  of  the  infant  and  the 
savage  becomes  soonest  familiar.  When  South  Sea 
Islanders  rattle  with  wooden  staves  and  pieces  of 
metal  to  the  accompaniment  of  fearful  howlings, 
they  are  performing  natural  music,  that  is,  no  music 
at  all.  But  what  a  Tyrolese  peasant  sings,  though 
apparently  uninfluenced  by  art-culture,  is,  beyond 
dispute,  artificial  music.  The  man  fancies,  of  course, 
that  he  sings  as  Nature  prompts  him,  but  to  enable 
Nature  so  to  prompt  him,  the  seed  of  centuries  had 
to  grow  and  ripen. 

We  have  now  examined  the  elements  which  form 
the  groundwork  of  the  music  of  to-day,  and  have 
been  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  man  has  not 
learnt  it  from  surrounding   Nature.      The   manner 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I47 

and  sequence  in  which  music  developed  into  our 
present  system  is  a  subject  treated  in  the  history  of 
music.  Here  it  is  enough  to  take  the  facts  for 
granted  and  to  emphasize  the  conclusions  arrived  at — 
namely,  that  melody  and  harmony,  our  intervals  and 
our  scale,  the  division  into  major  and  minor, 
according  to  the  position  of  the  semitone,  and  lastly, 
the  equal  temperament  without  which  our  music 
(the  West  European)  would  be  impossible,  are 
slowly  gained  triumphs  of  the  human  mind.  Nature 
has  given  man  but  the  organs  and  the  inclination  to 
sing,  together  with  the  faculty  to  create  a  musical 
system,  having  its  roots  in  the  most  simple  relations 
of  sound.  Only  the  latter  (the  triad,  harmonic 
progression)  will  ever  remain  the  indestructible 
foundation  upon  which  all  future  development  must 
rest.  Let  us  keep  clear  of  the  error,  that  this  (the 
present)  musical  system  is  itself  an  inherent  element  in 
Nature.  Although  even  scientists  now-a-days  mani- 
pulate musical  relations,  to  all  appearance,  without 
any  difficulty,  as  though  the  power  to  do  so  were 
innate,  this  by  no  means  proves  our  present  musical 
laws  to  be  so  many  laws  of  Nature,  but  is  simply 
due  to  the  enormous  spread  of  musical  culture. 
Hand,  therefore,  is  quite  right  in  remarking  that  oui 
infants  in  the  cradle  sing  better  than  adult  savages. 
**  If  the  succession  of  musical  notes  were  a  necessary 
**  product  of  Nature,  everybody  would  sing  in  tune."* 

*  Hand  (.flisthetik  der  Tonkunst,  I.,  50)  also  very  justly  directs 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  musical  scales  of  the  Scotch  Gaels  and 
the  various  tribes  of  India  are  alike  in  the  peculiarity  of  having 
neither  fourth  nor  seventh,  the  succession  of  their  notes  being 
C,  D,  E,  G,  A,  C.      The  physically  well-developed    Patagonians  in 


I48  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

If  we  apply  the  term  "artificial"  to  our  musical 
system,  it  must  not  be  construed  into  the  subtilised 
meaning  of  an  arbitrary  and  conventional  arrangement, 
but  as  signifying  something  that  has  gradually 
developed,  as  distinguished  from  something  pre- 
existing in  a  complete  form. 

Hauptmann  overlooks  this  distinction,  when  he 
calls  the  notion  of  an  artificial  system  of  music  an 
"  absolutely  empty  one,  because  musicians  were  just 
"  as  powerless  to  devise  intervals  and  a  musical 
'system,  as  philologists  to  invent  the  words  and 
"  the  construction  of  a  language."*  Language  is  an 
artificial  product  in  precisely  the  same  sense  as 
music,  since  neither  exists  ready  prepared  in  Nature, 
but  both  have  been  formed  by  degrees  and  have  to 
be  specially  learnt.  Languages  are  not  framed  by 
philologists,  but  by  the  nations  themselves  according 
to  their  idiosyncrasies,  and  by  way  of  perfecting  them, 
modifications  are  continually  introduced.  In  the 
same  way  "  musical  philologists  "  have  not  laid  the 
"  foundation  "  of  music,  but  have  merely  fixed  and 
substantiated  what  generations  of  musical  talents 
have  unconsciously  brought  forth  with  rational 
consistency,   though  not   with  inherent  necessity.! 

South  America  are  entirely  ignorant  of  both  vocal  and  instrumental 
music.  Our  above  conclusions,  moreover,  are  amply  confirmed  by 
the  recent  and  exhaustive  enquiries  of  Helmholtz  into  the  growth  of 
our  present  system  of  music  (•'  Lehre  von  den  Tonempfindungen"). 

♦  M.  Hauptmann,  "DieNaturder  Harmonikund  Metrik,"  1853^.7. 

f  Our  view  accords  with  the  researches  of  Jacob  Grimm,  who 
among  other  things  remarks :  "Whoever  has  gained  the  conviction 
"  that  language  has  originated  in  the  alembic  of  the  human  mind,  will 
•'have  no  doubt  as  to  the  source  of  poetry  and  music."  (,:  Ursprung 
•'  der  Sprache,"  1852.) 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  I49 

From  this  process  of  evolution  we  may  infer  that  our 
musical  system  will  also,  in  course  of  time,  be 
enriched  with  new  forms  and  undergo  further 
changes.  Music  within  its  present  limits,  however, 
is  still  capable  of  such  great  development,  that  an 
alteration  in  the  nature  of  the  system  seems  a  very 
remote  contingency  as  yet.  If,  for  instance,  the 
system  were  widened  by  the  "  emancipation  of  the 
demi-semitones  "  (of  which  a  modern  authoress  pro- 
fesses to  have  found  adumbrations  in  Chopin's 
music)*  the  theories  of  harmony,  composition,  and 
musical  aesthetics  would  become  totally  changed. 
The  musical  theorist  may,  therefore,  at  present, 
indulge  in  this  glimpse  into  the  future  only  so 
far  as  to  concede  the  bare  possibility  of  such 
changes. 

To  disprove  our  assertion  that  there  is  no  music  in 
Nature,  the  wealth  of  sound  that  enlivens  her  is 
generally  cited  as  counter-evidence.  Should  not  the 
murmuring  brook,  the  roar  of  the  ocean  waves,  the 
thundering  avalanche,  and  the  howling  of  the  wind 
be  at  once  the  source  of,  and  the  model  for  human 
music  ?  Have  all  these  rippling,  whistling,'  and 
roaring  noises  nothing  to  do  with  our  system  of 
music  ?  We  have  no  option  but  to  reply  in  the 
negative.  All  such  sounds  are  mere  noise — i.e.,  an 
irregular  succession  of  sonorous  pulses.  Very 
seldom,  and  even  then  only  in  an  isolated  manner, 
does  Nature  bring  forth  a  musical  note  of  definite  and 


*  Johanna   Rinkel,   "Acht  Briefe  iiber  Clavierunterricht,"     1852 
(Cotta). 


150  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

measurable  pitch.  But  a  musical  note  is  the 
foundation  of  all  music.  However  deeply  and  agree- 
ably these  natural  sounds  may  affect  the  mind, 
they  form  no  stepping  stone  to  human  music,  but 
are  mere  elemental  semblances  of  it,  though  it  is 
true,  that  eventually  they  may,  for  the  mature  human 
music,  become  highly  suggestive  factors.  Even  the 
purest  phenomenon  in  the  natural  world  of  sound,  the 
song  of  birds,  has  no  relation  to  music,  as  it  cannot 
be  reduced  to  our  scale.  Natural  harmony,  too, 
— certainly  the  sole  and  indestructible  basis  existing  in 
Nature,  on  which  the  principal  relations  of  our  music 
repose — should  be  viewed  in  its  true  light.  Harmonic 
progression  on  the  /Eolian  harp  (an  instrument 
with  all  its  strings  alike)  is  produced  by  the  spon- 
taneous action  of  Nature,  and  is  grounded,  therefore, 
on  some  natural  law ;  but  the  progression  itself  is 
not  the  immediate  product  of  Nature.  Unless  a 
certain  measurable,  fundamental  tone  be  sounded  on 
a  musical  instrument,  there  can  be  no  auxiliary  tones 
and  consequently  no  harmonic  progression.  Man 
must  ask  before  Nature  can  reply.  The  reflection 
of  sound,  called  echo,  is  susceptible  of  a  still  simpler 
explanation.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  even  authors 
of  great  ability  fail  to  recognise  the  fallacy  that  there 
is  real  music  in  Nature.  Hand  himself,  whom  we 
have  intentionally  quoted  before,  to  testify  to  his 
accurate  judgment  respecting  the  incommensurable- 
ness  and  the  inapplicability  of  natural  sounds  for 
purposes  of  art,  devotes  a  special  chapter  to  "  music 
in  nature,"  of  which  the  sonorous  waves  might  "  in 
a  manner  "  also  be  called  music.     Krttger  expresses 


THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC.  I5I 

himself  similarly.*  But  when  it  is  a  question  of 
first  principles,  saving  clauses  such  as  "  in  a 
manner "  are  wholly  inadmissible :  the  sounds  we 
hear  in  Nature  either  are,  or  are  not,  music.  The 
criterion  can  only  be  the  measurableness  of  the  tone. 
Hand  continually  emphasizes  "  the  inspiration," 
"  the  revealing  of  the  inner  man  "  and  of  a  "  subjec- 
tive feeling,"  "  the  force  of  individual  energy,  through 
"  which  the  inmost  thoughts  find  direct  utterance." 
According  to  this  principle  the  singing  of  birds  ought 
to  be  called  music,  whereas  the  tune  of  a  musical 
box  ought  not  to  be  called  so.  Yet  the  very 
opposite  is  the  truth. 

The  "  music  "  of  Nature  and  the  music  of  man 
belong  to  two  distinct  categories.  The  transition 
from  the  former  to  the  latter  passes  through  the 
science  of  mathematics.  An  important  and  pregnant 
proposition.  Still,  we  should  be  wrong  were  we  to 
construe  it  in  the  sense  that  man  framed  his  musical 
system  according  to  calculations  purposely  made,  the 
system  having  arisen  through  the  unconscious  appli- 
cation of  pre-existent  conceptions  of  quantity  and 
proportion,  through  subtle  processes  of  measuring 
and  counting ;  but  the  laws  by  which  the  latter  are 
governed  were  demonstrated  only  subsequently  by 
science. 

As  everything  in  music  must  be  measurable,  while 
the  spontaneous  sounds  of  Nature  cannot  be  reduced 
to  any  definite  quantity,  these  two  realms  of  sound 
have   no   true   point   of  contact.     Nature  does  not 

*  "  Beitrage  fur  Leben  und  Wissenschaft  der  Tonkunst,"  page 
149,  &c. 


152  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

supply  us  with  the  art-elements  of  a  complete  and 
ready  prepared  system  of  sound,  but  only  with  the 
crude  matter  which  we  utilise  for  our  music.  Not 
the  voices  of  animals,  but  their  gut  is  of  importance 
to  us ;  and  the  animal  to  which  music  is  most 
indebted  is  not  the  nightingale,  but  the  sheep. 

After  this  preliminary  enquiry,  which  for  the 
just  appreciation  of  the  musically  beautiful  is  but 
the  basement,  indispensable  though  it  be,  we  will 
pass  onward  to  a  higher  region,  to  the  domain  of 
aesthetics. 

The  measurable  tone  and  the  complete  system 
are  merely  the  means  with  which  the  composer 
produces,  not  what  he  produces.  As  wood  and  ore 
are  but  "matter"  in  respect  of  the  tone,  so  the 
tone  is  but  "matter"  in  respect  of  music.  But 
there  is  a  third  and  higher  sense  of  the  term 
"  matter  "  :  matter  in  the  sense  of  the  subject  to  be 
treated — the  idea  to  be  conveyed — the  theme. 
Whence  does  the  composer  derive  the  matter  thus 
understood  ?  Whence  arise  the  contents  of  any 
given  composition,  the  subject  which  gives  it  its 
individual  and  distinctive  character  ? 

Poetry,  painting,  and  sculpture  possess  in  sur- 
rounding Nature  an  inexhaustible  store  of  subject- 
matter.  The  poet  or  artist  here  is  impressed  by 
some  beautiful  object  in  Nature  which  forthwith 
becomes  the  subject  of  some  original  production. 

The  function  of  Nature  to  supply  art  with  models 
is  most  strikingly  exemplified  in  painting  and 
sculpture.  The  painter  could  draw  no  tree,  no 
flower,  if  they  did  not  already  exist  in  the  external 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  153 

world ;  the  sculptor  could  produce  no  statue  without 
knowing  the  human  form,  and  without  using  it  as  a 
model.  The  same  holds  good  of  ideal  subjects.  In 
the  strict  sense  of  the  word  they  are  not  "  ideal." 
Is  not  the  "  ideal  "  landscape  composed  of  rocks, 
trees,  water,  drifts  of  cloud — of  things,  in  brief, 
which  occur  in  Nature?  The  painter  can  paint 
nothing  but  what  he  has  seen  and  closely  observed, 
no  matter  whether  he  paints  a  landscape,  a  "genre," 
or  a  historical  painting.  When  our  contemporaries 
paint  "  Huss,"  "  Luther,"  or  "  Egmont,"  though 
they  have  never  actually  beheld  their  subject,  its 
component  parts  cannot  have  been  copied  but  from 
Nature.  The  painter  need  not  necessarily  have 
seen  this  very  man,  but  he  must  have  seen  a  great 
number  of  men  moving,  standing,  and  walking ;  he 
must  have  noticed  their  appearance  when  illumi- 
nated or  when  casting  shadows.  The  impossibility 
or  unreality  of  the  painter's  figures  would  assuredly 
be  his  greatest  reproach. 

Poetry,  which  Nature  furnishes  with  a  far  wider 
range  of  beautiful  models,  is  in  an  analogous 
position.  Man  and  his  deeds,  his  feelings  and  suffer- 
ings, as  coming  under  our  own  observation,  or  as 
handed  down  to  us  by  tradition — for  tradition,  too,  is 
a  pre-existing  factor,  something  which  the  poet  finds 
already  supplied — are  the  subject-matter  of  the 
poem,  the  tragedy,  the  novel.  The  poet  can  give 
us  no  description  of  a  sunrise,  a  snow-field,  or  an 
emotion ;  he  can  introduce  neither  peasant,  soldier, 
miser,  nor  lover  into  his  play,  without  having  seen 
or  studied  their  originals  in  Nature,  or  without  being 


154  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN    MUSIC. 

enabled  by  accurate  accounts  to  form  in  his  own 
mind  such  vivid  images  of  them  as  compensate  for 
the  want  of  having  them  actually  present. 

Now,  on  comparing  music  with  those  arts,  it  is 
obvious  that  Nature  has  provided  no  model  capable 
of  becoming  its  subject-matter. 

There  is  nothing  beautiful  in  Nature  as  far  as  music 
is  concerned. 

This  distinction  between  music  and  the  other  arts 
(with  the  sole  exception  of  architecture,  which  is 
likewise  without  models  in  Nature)  is  a  profound  and 
momentous  one. 

The  work  of  the  painter  or  poet  is  a  continual 
copying  or  reproducing  (drawn  from  reality  or  the 
imagination),  but  it  is  impossible  to  copy  music  from 
Nature.  Nature  knows  of  no  Sonata,  no  Overture, 
no  Rondo  ;  but  she  knows  of  landscapes,  of  scenes  of 
every-day  life,  of  idyls  and  tragedies.  The  Aris- 
totelian proposition,  that  it  is  the  office  of  art  to 
imitate  Nature — a  proposition  which  philosophers 
even  of  the  last  century  viewed  with  favour — has 
long  since  been  amended,  and,  having  been  commen- 
ted upon  ad  nauseam,  it  needs  no  further  exposition 
in  this  enquiry.  Art  should  not  slavishly  copy 
Nature,  but  remodel  it.  This  expression  alone 
shows  that  something  must  have  existed  prior  to  art 
that  admits  of  being  remodelled.  This  something  is 
the  prototype,  the  thing  of  beauty  which  Nature 
provides  for  art.  A  beautiful  landscape,  a  group,  or 
a  poem  inspires  the  painter  to  an  artistic  reproduc- 
tion ;  while  the  poet  is  similarly  inspired  by  a 
historical  event,  or  by  some  adventure.     But  what  is 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  155 

there  in  Nature  that  could  ever  induce  the  composer 
to  exclaim  :  what  a  magnificent  model  for  an  Over- 
ture, a  Symphony !  The  composer  can  remodel 
nothing;  he  has  to  create  everything  ab  initio. 
That  which  the  painter  or  the  poet  gleans  in  con- 
templating the  beautiful  in  Nature,  the  composer 
has  to  draw  from  his  own  fertile  imagination.  He 
must  watch  for  the  propitious  moment,  when  it 
begins  to  ring  and  sing  within  him  ;  he  will  then 
enter  heart  "and  soul  into  his  task,  and  create  from 
within  that  which  has  not  its  like  in  Nature,  and 
which,  therefore,  unlike  the  other  arts,  is  truly  not 
of  this  world. 

If,  in  respect  of  the  painter  and  the  poet,  we 
classed  man  with  the  "  beautiful  objects  "  in  Nature, 
whereas  in  respect  of  the  composer  we  excluded  the 
rich  melodies  of  man  in  their  pristine  freshness,  we 
did  not  do  so  from  bias.  The  singing  shepherd  is  not 
an  object,  but  a  subject  of  our  art.  His  song,  if 
consisting  of  measurable  and  systematically  adjusted 
successions  of  notes,  how  simple  soever  these  may 
be,  is  a  creation  of  the  human  mind,  no  matter 
whether  a  herdboy  or  a  Beethoven  invented  it. 

A  composer  who  introduces  into  his  music  true 
national  airs  does  not  thereby  make  use  of  a  spon- 
taneous product  of  Nature,  the  airs  being  always 
traceable  to  someone  who  originated  them — how  did 
he  come  by  them  ?  Did  he  copy  them  from  a  model 
in  Nature  ?  This  is  the  question  we  must  ask,  and 
only  a  negative  reply  is  possible.  Popular  airs  are 
not  things  already  existing — natural  objects  of  beauty, 
as  it  were — but  they  are  the  first  stage  of  true  art, 


156  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

art  in  its  native  simplicity.  Such  airs  are  natural 
models  for  music  just  as  little  as  the  flowers  and 
soldiers  dauhed  with  charcoal  on  the  walls  of  guard- 
rooms and  lumber  yards  are  natural  models  for 
painting.  Both  are  products  of  human  art.  Of  the 
figures  drawn  in  charcoal  the  originals  exist  in 
Nature,  whereas  for  the  popular  air  no  such  original 
exists;  it  cannot  be  traced  to  any  prototype  in  nature- 
A  very  common  error  arises  from  the  term 
"  subject "  being  understood  in  its  wider  sense  when 
speaking  of  music,  in  support  of  which  it  is  pointed 
out  that  Beethoven  really  composed  an  Overture  to 
"  Egmont "  or  (to  avoid  reminding  us  by  the  pre- 
position "to"  of  its  dramatic  meaning)  that  Beethoven 
composed  "  Egmont,"  Berlioz  "  King  Lear,"  and 
Mendelssohn  "  Melusina."  Have  not  these  narratives, 
say  they,  furnished  the  composer  with  subjects,  as 
they  do  the  poet  ?  Not  in  the  least.  To  the  poet 
these  characters  are  true  models  which  he  recasts, 
whereas  to  the  composer  they  are  mere  suggestions — 
i.e.,  poetic  suggestions.  The  natural  model  for  the 
composer  would  have  to  be  an  audible  something,  as 
it  is  a  visible  something*  for  the  painter  and  a 
tangible  something  for  the  sculptor.  The  individuality 
of  "Egmont,"  his  deeds,  experiences,  and  sentiments, 
do  not  form  the  subject  of  Beethoven's  Overture,  as 
they  do  in  the  case  of  the  painting  or  the  drama 
"  Egmont."  The  subject  of  the  Overture  consists  of 
successions  of  notes,  which  the  composer  drew  from  the 
■store  of  his  own  imagination,  free  from  all  limitations, 
except  those  fixed  by  the  intrinsic  laws  of  music. 
These  successions  of  notes  are,  aesthetically  speaking, 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  157 

entirely  independent  of  the  idea  "  Egmont  "  with 
which  the  poetic  fancy  of  the  composer  alone  has 
linked  them ;  no  matter  whether  this  idea  first 
suggested  them  in  some  inscrutable  manner,  or 
whether  he  subsequently  found  them  suitable  for  his 
composition.  This  connection,  however,  is  so  loose 
and  arbitrary  that  in  listening  to  a  piece  of  music  we 
should  never  even  guess  at  its  alleged  subject,  but  for 
the  name  purposely  attached  to  it  by  the  author.  It  is 
this  name  alone  which,  from  the  very  beginning,  forces 
our  thoughts  into  a  certain  channel.  Berlioz's 
magnificent  Overture  is  no  more  causally  related 
to  the  idea  "  King  Lear"  than  a  Waltz  by  Strauss. 
It  is  impossible  to  lay  too  much  stress  upon  this 
fact,  as  the  most  erroneous  views  prevail  on  this  very 
point.  Only  on  comparing  the  Waltz  by  Strauss 
or  the  Overture  by  Berlioz  with  the  idea  "  King 
Lear,"  does  the  former  appear  to  be  inconsistent 
and  the  latter  consistent  with  it.  But  we  are  induced 
to  make  the  comparison  by  the  explicit  command  of 
the  author,  and  not  by  something  inherent  in  the 
music  itself.  A  certain  title  prompts  us  to  contrast 
the  piece  of  music  with  some  object  external  to  it, 
and  we  are  thus  under  the  necessity  of  measuring  it 
by  some  standard  other  than  the  musical  one. 

It  may  possibly  be  said  that  Beethoven's  Overture 
to  "  Prometheus  "  is  not  sufficiently  grand  for  the 
subject,  but  intrinsically  it  is  proof  against  all  attacks, 
and  nowhere  can  a  musical  flaw  or  imperfection 
be  shown  to  exist.  The  Overture  is  perfect  because 
the  working  out  of  its  musical  subject  is  faultless. 
To  treat  its  poetic  part  in  like  manner  is  a  totally 


158  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

different  matter.  The  poetic  treatment  arises  and 
disappears  with  the  title.  In  the  case  of  a 
composition  with  a  definite  title,  this  demand  can, 
moreover,  only  apply  to  certain  characteristic 
attributes :  the  music  may  have  to  be  solemn  or 
lively,  gloomy  or  cheerful;  its  opening  may  have  to 
be  simple  and  its  close  gay  or  mournful,  &c.  Poetry 
and  painting  are  expected  to  clothe  their  subjects  in 
a  definite  and  concrete  individuality,  and  not  merely 
with  general  attributes.  For  this  reason  it  is  quite 
conceivable  that  Beethoven's  Overture  to  "Egmont  " 
would  bear  equally  well  the  title  "  William  Tell  " 
or  "Joan  of  Arc."  But  the  drama  "  Egmont,"  or 
the  painting  "  Egmont  "  could  at  the  worst  only  lead 
to  the  error  that  another  individual  in  the  same 
position  is  meant,  but  not  that  the  circumstances 
themselves  are  entirely  different. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  relation  of  music  to 
Nature  is  most  intimately  connected  with  the  question 
-of  its  subject-matter. 

There  is  still  another  factor  selected  from  musical 
literature,  for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  music  has 
a  prototype  in  Nature.  Instances  are  adduced  of 
composers  having  derived  from  Nature  not  only 
their  poetic  inspiration  (as  in  the  cases  alluded  to), 
but  of  having  faithfully  reproduced  some  of  her 
spontaneous  utterances :  the  cock-crowing  in 
Haydn's  Oratorio  "  The  Seasons,"  the  call  of  the 
cuckoo,  the  song  of  the  nightingale,  the  whistle  of 
the  quail  in  Beethoven's  "  Pastoral "  Symphony  and 
in  Spohr's  "Consecration  of  Sound."  But  though 
we  recognise  these  imitations,  and  though  we  listen 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  159 

to  them  in  a  musical  work,  their  meaning  is  a  poetic 
and  not  a  musical  one.  The  cock-crowing  is  not 
introduced  as  beautiful  music,  or  indeed  as  music  at 
all,  but  merely  to  recall  in  us  the  impression  asso- 
ciated in  our  mind  with  the  phenomenon  in  question. 
"  I  have  almost  seen  Haydn's  '  Creation,'  "  wrote 
Thieriot  to  Jean  Paul,  after  listening  to  a  per- 
formance of  this  Oratorio.  We  are  only  reminded 
by  universally-known  sayings  and  quotations  that  it 
is  early  morn,  a  balmy  summer's  night,  or  spring- 
time. Except  in  a  purely  descriptive  sense,  no 
composer  has  ever  been  able  to  utilise  the  sounds  of 
Nature  for  any  truly  musical  purpose.  All  the 
natural  sounds  in  the  world  are  powerless  to  produce 
a  single  musical  theme,  simply  because  they  are  not 
music,  and  it  is  significant  that  music  can  only  enlist 
Nature  into  its  service,  if  it  wants  to  dabble  in  the 
art  of  painting.* 


*  The  misconception  that  the  spontaneous  sounds  of  Nature  should 
he  bodily  transferred  to  a  musical  composition — which,  as  O.  Jahn 
aptly  remarks,  is  admissible  only  in  rare  cases  as  a  jest,  is  a  totally 
different  thing  from  such  cases  (which,  by  the  way,  ought  not  to  be 
called  "painting"  at  all)  where  semi-musical  phenomena,  through 
their  rhythmic  or  sonorous  character, — e.g.,  the  rushing  and  splashing 
of  water,  the  singing  of  birds,  the  howling  of  the  wind,  the  whizzing 
of  arrows,  the  humming  of  the  spinning-wheel,  &c,  suggest  to  the 
composer — but  are  by  no  means  "  literally  copied  "  by  him — themes 
of  independent  beauty,  which  are  worked  out  with  perfect  freedom 
and  bear  the  impress  of  true  art.  "  Of  this  privilege  the  poet  makes 
"use  in  the  choice  of  the  words  and  the  metre;  but  in  music  it  extends 
"  over  a  much  wider  area,  countless  musical  elements  being  scattered 
41  throughout  Nature,"  and  an  abundance  of  notable  examples  is 
supplied  both  by  classical  and  modern  composers ;  only  the  latter 
proceed  with  much  greater  subtlety  than  did  the  former. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Has  Music  any  subject  ?  This  has  been  a  burning 
question  ever  since  people  began  to  reflect  upon  music. 
It  has  been  answered  both  in  the  affirmative  and  in  the 
negative.  Many  prominent  men,  almost  exclusively 
philosophers,  among  whom  we  may  mention  Rousseau.. 
Kant,  Hegel,  Herbart,*  Kahlert,  &c,  hold  that  music 
has  no  subject.  The  numerous  physiologists  who 
endorse  this  view  include  such  eminent  thinkers  as 
Lotze  and  Helmholtz,  whose  opinions,  strengthened 
as  they  are  by  musical  knowledge,  carry  great 
weight  and  authority.  Those  who  contend  that 
music  ha$  ci  subject  are  numerically  far  stronger : 
among  them  are  the  trained  musicians  of  the  literary 
profession,  and  their  convictions  are  shared  by  the 
bulk  of  the  public. 

It  may  seem  almost  a  matter  for  surprise  that 
just  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  technical  side 
of  music  should  be  unwilling  to  concede  the  unten- 
ableness  of  a  doctrine  which  is  at  variance  with 
those  very  technical  principles,  and  which  thinkers 
on  abstract  subjects  might  perhaps  be  pardoned  for 

*  Robert  Zimmermann,  in  his  recent  work,  "  Die  allgemeine 
^Ssthetik  als  Formwissenschaft  "  (Vienna,  1865),  founded  as  it  is  on 
Herbart's  principles,  has  applied  the  morphological  principle  with 
strict  logical  consistency  to  all  arts,  and  consequently  also  to  music. 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  l6l 

propounding.  The  reason  is,  that  many  of  these 
musical  authors  are  more  anxious  to  save  the  so- 
called  honour  of  their  art  than  to  ascertain  the  truth. 
They  attack  the  doctrine  that  music  has  no  subject, 
not  as  one  opinion  against  another,  but  as  heresy 
against  dogma.  The  contrary  view  appears  to  them 
in  the  light  of  a  degrading  error  and  a  form  of  crude 
and  heinous  materialism.  "  What !  the  art  that 
"  charms  and  elevates  us  ;  to  which  so  many  noble 
"  minds  have  devoted  a  whole  lifetime;  which  is  the 
"  vehicle  of  the  most  sublime  thoughts  ;  that  art  to 
"  be  cursed  with  unmeaningness,  to  be  mere  food  for 
"  the  senses,  mere  empty  sound  !  "  Hackneyed 
exclamations  of  this  description  which,  though 
made  up  of  several  disconnected  propositions,  are 
generally  uttered  in  one  breath,  neither  prove  nor 
disprove  anything.  The  question  is  not  a  point  of 
honour,  not  a  party-badge,  but  simply  the  discovery 
of  truth  ;  and  in  order  to  attain  this  object,  it  is  of 
the  first  importance  to  be  clear  regarding  the  points 
which  are  under  debate. 

It  is  the  indiscriminate  use  of  the  terms, 
contents,  subject,  matter,  which  has  been,  and  still 
is,  responsible  for  all  this  ambiguity;  the  same 
meaning  being  expressed  by  different  terms,  or  the 
same  term  associated  with  different  meanings. 
"Contents,"  in  the  true  and  original  sense,  is 
that  which  a  thing  contains,  what  it  holds 
within.  The  notes  of  which  a  piece  of  music 
is  composed,  and  which  are  the  parts  that  go  to 
make  up  the  whole,  are  the  contents  in  this  sense. 
The   circumstance    that   nobody    will    accept    this 

L 


l62  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

definition  as  a  satisfactory  solution,  but  that  it  is  dis- 
missed as  a  truism,  is  due  to  the  word  "  contents  " 
(subject)  being  usually  confounded  with  the  word 
V  object."  An  enquiry  into  the  "  contents "  of 
musical  compositions  raises  in  such  people's  minds 
the  conception  of  an  "object"  (subject-matter; 
topic),  which  latter,  being  the  idea,  the  ideal  element, 
they  represent  to  themselves  as  almost  antithetical 
to  the  "  material  part,"  the  musical  notes.  Music 
has,  indeed,  no  contents  as  thus  understood ;  no 
subject  in  the  sense  that  the  subject  to  be  treated  is 
something  extraneous  to  the  musical  notes.  Kahlert 
is  right  in  emphatically  maintaining  that  music, 
unlike  painting,  admits  of  no  "  description  in  words  " 
(iEsth.  380),  though  his  subsequent  assumption 
that  a  description  in  words  may,  at  times,  "  com- 
pensate for  the  want  of  aesthetic  enjoyment,"  is  false. 
It  may  be  the  means,  however,  of  clearly  perceiving 
the  real  bearing  of  the  question.  The  query 
"what"  is  the  subject  of  the  music,  must  necessarily 
be  answerable  in  words,  if  music  really  has  a 
"  subject,"  because  an  "  indefinite  subject  "  upon 
which  everyone  puts  a  different  construction,  which 
can  only  be  felt  and  not  translated  into  words,  is  not 
a  subject  as  we  have  defined  it. 

Music  consists  of  successions  and  forms  of  sound, 
and  these  alone  constitute  the  subject.  They  again 
remind  us  of  architecture  and  dancing  which  like- 
wise aim  at  beauty  in  form  and  motion,  and  are  also 
devoid  of  a  definite  subject.  Now,  whatever  be  the 
effect  of  a  piece  of  music  on  the  individual  mind,  and 
howsoever  it  be  interpreted,  it  has  no  subject  beyond 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  163 

the  combinations  of  notes  we  hear,  for  music  does 
not  only  speak  by  means  of  sounds,  it  speaks  nothing 
.but  sound. 

Kriiger — the  opponent  of  Hegel  and  Kahlert — who 
is  probably  the  most  learned  advocate  of  the  doctrine 
that  music  has  a  "  subject  " — contends  that  this  art 
presents  but  a  different  side  of  the  subject  which 
other  arts,  such  as  painting,  represent.  "  All  plastic 
figures,"  he  says  (Beitrage,  131),  "  are  in  a  state  of 
*'  quiescence  ;  they  do  not  exhibit  present,  but  past 
4t  action,  or  the  state  of  things  at  a  given  moment. 
*'  The  painting,  therefore,  does  not  show  Apollo  van- 
41  quishing,  but  it  represents  the  victor,  the  furious 
41  warrior,"  &c.  Music,  on  the  other  hand,  "supplies  to 
*'  those  plastic  and  quiescent  forms  the  motive  force. 
"  the  active  principle,  the  inner  waves  of  motion;  and 
*"  whereas  in  the  former  instance  we  knew  the  true, 
4*  but  inert  subject,  to  be  anger,  love,  &c,  we  here 
**  know  the  true  and  active  subject  to  be  loving,  rush- 
41  ing,  heaving,  storming,  fuming."  The  latter  portion 
is  only  partly  true,  for  though  music  may  be  said  to 
""  rush,  heave,  and  storm,"  it  can  neither  "  love  "  nor 
be  "angry."  These  sentiments  we  ourselves  import 
into  the  music,  and  we  must  here  refer  our  readers 
to  the  second  chapter  of  this  book.  Kriiger  then 
proceeds  to  compare  the  definiteness  of  the  painter's 
subject  with  the  musical  subject,  and  remarks:  "The 
"painter  represents  Orestes,  pursued  by  the  Furies: 
""  his  outward  appearance,  his  eyes,  mouth,  forehead, 
""  and  posture,  give  us  the  impression  of  flight,  gloom, 
41  and  despair;  at  his  heels  the  spirits  of  divine 
"'  vengeance,  whose  imperious  and  sublimely  terrible 


164  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

"  commands  he  cannot  evade,  but  who  likewise  present 
"  unchanging  outlines,  features,  and  attitudes.  The 
M  composer  does  not  exhibit  fleeing  Orestes  in  fixed 
"  lines,  but  from  a  point  of  view  from  which  the 
"  painter  cannot  pourtray  him :  he  puts  into  his  music 
"  the  tremor  and  shuddering  of  his  soul,  his  inmost 
"  feelings  at  war,  urging  his  flight,"  &c.  This,  in  our 
opinion,  is  entirely  false  ;  the  composer  is  unable  to 
represent  Orestes  either  in  one  way  or  another ;  in 
fact,  he  cannot  represent  him  at  all. 

The  objection  that  sculpture  and  painting  are  also 
unable  to  represent  to  us  a  given  historical 
personage,  and  that  we  could  not  know  the  figure  to 
be  this  very  individual,  but  for  our  previous  knowledge 
of  certain  historical  facts,  does  not  hold  good. 
True,  the  figure  does  not  proclaim  itself  to  be 
Orestes;  the  man  who  has  gone  through  such  or 
such  experiences,  and  whose  existence  is  bound  up 
with  certain  biographic  incidents ;  none  but  the  poet 
can  represent  that,  since  he  alone  can  narrate  the 
events;  but  the  painting  "Orestes"  unequivocally 
shows  us  a  youth  with  noble  features,  in  Greek 
attire,  his  looks  and  attitude  betokening  fear  and 
mental  anguish ;  and  it  shows  us  this  youth  pursued 
and  tormented  by  the  awe-inspiring  goddesses  of 
vengeance.  All  this  is  clear  and  indubitable ;  a 
visible  narrative — no  matter  whether'  the  youth  be 
called  Orestes  or  otherwise.  Only  the  antecedent 
causes — namely,  that  the  youth  has  committed 
matricide,  &c,  cannot  be  expressed.  Now,  what  can 
music  give  us  in  point  of  definiteness  as  a  counter- 
part   to  the  visible   subject   of  the   painter — apart 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  l6j 

from  the  historical  element  ?  Chords  of  a  diminished 
seventh,  themes  in  minor  keys,  a  rolling  bass,  &c. — 
musical  forms,  in  brief,  which  might  signify  a  woman 
just  as  well  as  a  youth  ;  one  pursued  by  myrmidons 
instead  of  furies ;  somebody  tortured  by  jealousy  or 
by  bodily  pain  ;  one  bent  on  revenge — in  short,  any- 
thing we  can  think  of,  if  we  must  needs  imagine  a 
subject  for  the  composition. 

It  seems  almost  superfluous  to  exoressly  recall  the 
proposition,  already  established  by  us,  that  whenever 
the  subject  and  the  descriptive  power  of  music  are 
under  debate,  instrumental  music  alone  can  be  taken 
into  account.  Nobody  is  likely  to  disregard  this  so 
far  as  to  instance  Orestes  in  Gluck's  "  Iphigenia," 
for  this  "  Orestes "  is  not  the  composer's  creation. 
The  words  of  the  poet,  the  appearance  and  gestures 
of  the  actor,  the  costume  and  the  painter's  decora- 
tions produce  the  complete  Orestes.  The  com- 
poser's contribution — the  melody — is  possibly  the 
most  beautiful  part  of  all,  but  it  happens  to  be  just 
that  factor  which  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  real  Orestes. 

Lessing  has  shown  with  admirable  perspicuity 
what  the  poet  and  what  the  sculptor  or  painter  may 
make  of  the  story  of  Laocoon.  The  poet  by  the 
aid  of  speech  gives  us  the  historical,  individually- 
defined  Laocoon;  the  painter  and  sculptor  shows  us 
the  terrible  serpents,  crushing  in  their  coils  an  old 
man  and  two  boys  (of  determinate  age  and  appear- 
ance, dressed  after  a  particular  fashion,  &c),  who 
by  their  looks,  attitudes,  and  gestures  express  the 
agonies   of  approaching    death.       Of  the   composer 


l66  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

Lessing  says  nothing,  and  this  was  only  to  be 
expected,  since  there  is  nothing  in  "  Laocoon  " 
which  could  be  turned  into  music. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  intimate  connec- 
tion between  the  question  of  subject  in  musical 
compositions  and  the  relation  of  music  to  the 
beauties  of  Nature.  The  composer  looks  in  vain  for 
models  such  as  those  which  render  the  subjects  of 
other  art-products  both  definite  and  recognisable, 
and  an  art  for  which  Nature  can  provide  no  aesthetic 
model  must,  properly  speaking,  be  incorporeal.  A 
prototype  of  its  mode  of  manifestation  is  nowhere 
to  be  met  with,  and  it  can,  therefore,  not  be  in- 
cluded in  the  range  of  living  experiences.  It  does 
not  reproduce  an  already  known  and  classified 
subject,  and  for  this  reason  it  has  no  subject  that 
can  be  taken  hold  of  by  the  intellect,  as  the  latter 
can  be  exercised  only  on  definite  conceptions. 

The  term  subject  (substance)  can,  properly 
speaking,  be  applied  to  an  art-product  only,  if  wa 
regard  it  as  the  correlative  of  form.  The  terms 
"form"  and  "substance"  supplement  each  other, 
and  one  cannot  be  thought  of  except  in  relation  to 
the  other.  Wherever  the  "form"  appears  mentally 
inseparable  from  the  "  substance,"  there  can  be  no 
question  of  an  independent  "substance"  (subject). 
Now,  in  music,  substance  and  form,  the  subject  and 
its  working  out,  the  image  and  the  realised  concep- 
tion are  mysteriously  blended  in  one  undecompo- 
sable  whole.  This  complete  fusion  of  substance  and 
form  is  exclusively  characteristic  of  music,  and 
presents  a  sharp  contrast  to  poetry,  painting,  and 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  167 

sculpture,  inasmuch  as  these  arts  are  capable  of 
representing  the  same  idea  and  the  same  event  in 
different  forms.  The  story  of  William  Tell  supplied 
to  Florian  the  subject  for  a  historical  novel,  to 
Schiller  the  subject  for  a  play,  while  Goethe  began 
to  treat  it  as  an  epic  poem.  The  substance  is  every- 
where the  same,  equally  resolvable  into  prose,  and 
capable  of  being  narrated ;  always  clearly  recog- 
nisable, and  yet  the  form  differs  in  each  case. 
Aphrodite  emerging  from  the  sea  is  the  subject  of 
innumerable  paintings  and  statues,  the  various 
forms  of  which  it  is,  nevertheless,  impossible  to 
confuse.  In  music,  no  distinction  can  be  made 
between  substance  and  form,  as  it  has  no  form 
independently  of  the  substance.  Let  us  look  at 
this  more  closely. 

In  all  compositions  the  independent,  aesthetically 
undecomposable  subject  of  a  musical  conception  is 
the  theme,  and  by  the  theme,  the  musical  microcosm, 
we  should  always  be  able  to  test  the  alleged  subject 
underlying  the  music  as  such.  Let  us  examine  the 
leading  theme  of  some  composition,  say  that  of 
Beethoven's  Symphony  in  B  flat  major.  What  is 
its  subject  (substance)  ?  What  its  form  ?  Where 
does  the  latter  commence  and  the  former  end  ? 
That  its  subject  does  not  consist  of  a  determinate 
feeling,  we  think  we  have  conclusively  proved,  and 
this  truth  becomes  only  the  more  evident  when 
tested  by  this  or  by  any  other  concrete  example. 
What  then  is  to  be  called  its  subject  ?  The  groups  of 
sounds  ?  Undoubtedly  ;  but  they  have  a  form 
already.      And  what  is  the  form?     The  groups  of 


l68  THE   BEAUTIFUL  IN   MUSIC. 

sounds  again  ;  but  here  they  are  a  replete  form. 
Every  practical  attempt  at  resolving  a  theme  into 
subject  and  form  ends  in  arbitrariness  and  con- 
tradiction. Take,  for  instance,  a  theme  repeated  by 
another  instrument  or  in  the  higher  octave.  Is  the 
subject  changed  thereby  or  the  form  ?  If,  as  is 
generally  the  case,  the  latter  is  said  to  be  changed, 
then  all  that  remains  as  the  subject  of  the  theme 
would  simply  be  the  series  of  intervals,  the  skeleton 
frame  for  the  musical  notation  as  the  score  presents 
them  to  the  eye.  But  this  is  not  musical  definiteness, 
it  is  an  abstract  notion.  It  may  be  likened  to  a 
pavilion  with  stained  window  panes,  through  which 
the  same  environment  appears,  now  red,  now  blue, 
and  now  yellow.  The  environment  itself  changes 
neither  in  substance  nor  inform,  but  merely  in  colour. 
This  property  of  exhibiting  the  same  forms  in 
countless  hues,  from  the  most  glaring  contrasts  down 
to  the  finest  distinctions  of  shade,  is  quite  peculiar 
to  music  and  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  powerful 
causes  of  its  effectiveness. 

A  theme  originally  composed  for  the  piano  and 
subsequently  arranged  for  the  orchestra  acquires 
thereby  a  new  form  but  not  a  form  for  the  first  time, 
the  formal  element  being  part  and  parcel  of  the 
primary  conception.  The  assertion  that  a  theme  by 
the  process  of  instrumentation  changes  its  subject 
while  retaining  its  form  is  even  less  tenable,  as  such 
a  theory  involves  still  greater  contradictions,  the 
listener  being  obliged  to  affirm,  that  though  he 
recognises  it  to  be  the  same  subject  "  it  somehow 
**  sounds  like  a  different  one." 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC.  169 

It  is  true  that  in  looking  at  a  composition  in  the 
aggregate  and  more  particularly  at  musical  works  of 
great  length,  we  are  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  form 
and  subject ;  in  such  a  case,  however,  these  terms 
are  not  understood  in  their  primitive  and  logical 
sense,  but  in  a  specifically  musical  one.  What  we 
call  the  "form"  of  a  Symphony,  an  Overture,  a 
Sonata,  an  Aria,  a  Chorus,  &c,  is  the  architectonic 
combination  of  the  units  and  groups  of  units  of 
which  a  composition  is  made  up;  or  more  definitely 
speaking,  the  symmetry  of  their  successions,  their 
contrasts,  repetitions,  and  general  working  out.  But 
thus  understood  the  subject  is  identical  with  the 
themes  with  which  this  architectonic  structure  is 
built  up.  Subject  is  here,  therefore,  no  longer  con- 
strued in  the  sense  of  an  "  object,"  but  as  the  subject 
in  a  purely  musical  sense.  The  words  "  substance  " 
and  "  form  "  in  respect  of  entire  compositions  are 
used  in  an  aesthetic,  and  not  in  a  strictly  logical 
sense.  If  we  wish  to  apply  them  to  music  in  the 
latter  sense,  we  must  do  so,  not  in  relation  to  the 
composition  in  the  aggregate,  as  a  whole  consisting 
of  parts,  but  in  relation  to  its  ultimate  and  aesthetic- 
ally undecomposable  idea.  This  ultimate  idea  is 
the  theme  or  themes,  and  in  the  latter  substance  and 
form  are  indissolubly  connected.  We  cannot  ac- 
quaint anybody  with  the  "  subject "  of  a  theme, 
except  by  playing  it.  The  subject  of  a  composition 
can,  therefore,  not  be  understood  as  an  object  derived 
from  an  external  source,  but  as  something  intrin- 
sically musical ;  in  other  words,  as  the  concrete 
group  of  sounds  in  a  piece  of  music.     Now,  as  a 


170  THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN   MUSIC. 

composition  must  comply  with  the  formal  laws  of 
beauty,  it  cannot  run  on  arbitrarily  and  at  random,, 
but  must  develop  gradually  with  intelligible  and 
organic  definiteness,  as  buds  develop  into  rich 
blossoms. 

Here  we  have  the  principal  theme;  the  true  topic 
or  subject  of  the  entire  composition.  Everything  it 
contains,  though  originated  by  the  unfettered  imagin- 
ation, is  nevertheless  the  natural  outcome  and  effect 
of  the  theme  which  determines  and  forms,  regulates 
and  pervades  its  every  part.  We  may  compare  it 
to  a  self-evident  truth  which  we  accept  for  a  moment 
as  satisfactory,  but  which  our  mind  would  fain  see 
tested  and  developed,  and  in  the  musical  working 
out  this  development  takes  place  analogously  to  the 
logical  train  of  reasoning  in  an  argument.  The 
theme,  not  unlike  the  chief  hero  in  a  novel,  is 
brought  by  the  composer  into  the  most  varied 
states  and  surrounding  conditions,  and  is  made  to 
pass  through  ever-changing  phases  and  moods — 
everything,  no  matter  what  contrasts  it  may 
present,  is  conceived  and  formed  in  relation  to  the 
theme. 

The  epithet  without  a  subject,  might  possibly  be 
applied  to  the  freest  form  of  extemporising,  during 
which  the  performer  indulges  in  chords,  arpeggios, 
and  rosalias,  by  way  of  a  rest,  rather  than  as  a 
creative  effort,  and  which  does  not  end  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  definite  and  connected  whole.  Such 
extempore  playing  has  no  individuality  of  its  own, 
by  which  one  might  recognise  or  distinguish  it,  and 
it  would  be   quite  correct   to   say  that   it  has   no 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  171 

subject  (in  the  wider  sense  of  the  term),  because  it  has 
no  theme. 

Thus  the  theme  or  the  themes  are  the  real  subject 
of  a  piece  of  music. 

In  aesthetic  and  critical  reviews  far  too  little 
importance  is  attached  to  the  leading  theme  of  a 
composition  ;  it  alone  reveals  at  once  the  mind  which 
conceived  the  work.  Every  musician,  on  hearing 
the  first  few  opening  bars  of  Beethoven's  Overture 
to  "Leonore"  or  Mendelssohn's  Overture  to  "The 
Hebrides,"  though  he  may  be  totally  unaware  of  the 
subsequent  development  of  the  theme,  must  recognise 
at  once  the  treasure  that  lies  before  him  ;  whereas 
the  music  of  a  theme  from  Donizetti's  "  Fausta  " 
Overture  or  Verdi's  Overture  to  "Louisa  Miller" 
will,  without  the  need  of  further  examination, 
convince  us  that  the  music  is  fit  only  for  low  music 
halls.  German  theorists  and  executants  prize  the 
musical  working-out  far  more  than  the  inherent  merits 
of  the  theme.  But  whatever  is  not  contained  in  the 
theme  (be  it  overtly  or  in  disguise)  is  incapable  of 
organic  growth,  and  if  the  present  time  is  barren  of 
orchestral  works  of  the  Beethoven  type  it  is,  perhaps, 
due  not  so  much  to  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
working  out,  as  to  the  want  of  symphonic  power  and 
fertility  of  the  themes. 

On  enquiring  into  the  subject  of  music  we  should, 
above  all,  beware  of  using  the  term  "  subject"  in  a 
eulogistic  sense.  From  the  fact  that  music  has  no 
extrinsic  subject  (object)  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is 
without  any  intrinsic  merit.  It  is  clear  that  those  who, 
with  the  zeal  of  partisanship,  contend  that  music  has 


172  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

a  "  subject,"  really  mean  "  intellectual  merit."  We 
can  only  ask  our  readers  to  revert  to  our  remarks  in 
the  third  chapter  of  this  book.  Music  is  to  be 
played,  but  it  is  not  to  be  played  with.  Thoughts 
and  feelings  pervade  with  vital  energy  the  musical 
organism,  the  embodiment  of  beauty  and  symmetry, 
and  though  they  are  not  identical  with  the  organism 
itself  nor  yet  visible,  they  are,  as  it  were,  its  breath 
of  life.  The  composer  thinks  and  works;  but  he 
thinks  and  works  in  sound,  away  from  the  realities  of 
the  external  world.  We  deliberately  repeat  this 
commonplace,  for  even  those  who  admit  it  in 
principle,  deny  and  violate  it  when  carried  to  its 
logical  conclusions.  They  conceive  the  act  of  com- 
posing as  a  translation  into  sound  of  a  given  subject, 
whereas  the  sounds  themselves  are  the  untranslatable 
and  original  tongue.  If  the  composer  is  obliged  to 
think  in  sounds,  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
music  has  no  subject  external  to  itself,  for  of  a 
subject  in  this  sense  we  ought  to  be  able  to  think  in 
words. 

Though,  when  examining  into  the  subject  of  music, 
we  rigorously  excluded  compositions  written  for 
given  sets  of  words  as  being  inconsistent  with  the 
conception  of  music  pure  and  simple,  yet  the  master- 
pieces of  vocal  music  are  indispensable  for  the 
formation  of  an  accurate  judgment  respecting  the 
intrinsic  worth  of  music.  From  the  simple  song  to 
the  complex  opera  and  the  time-honoured  practice  of 
using  music  for  the  celebration  of  religious  services, 
music  has  never  ceased  to  accompany  the  most 
tender  and  profound  affections  of  the  human  mind 


THE   BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC.  173 

and  has  thus  been  the  indirect  means  of  glorifying 
them. 

Apart  from  the  existence  of  an  intrinsic  merit,  there 
is  a  second  corollary  which  we  wish  to  emphasize. 
Though  music  possesses  beauty  of  form  without  any 
extrinsic  subject,  this  does  not  deprive  it  of  the 
quality  of  individuality.  The  act  of  inventing  a 
certain  theme,  and  the  mode  of  working  it  out,  are 
always  so  unique  and  specific  as  to  defy  their 
inclusion  in  a  wider  generality.  These  processes  are 
distinctly  and  unequivocally  individual  in  nature.  A 
theme  of  Mozart  or  Beethoven  rests  on  as  firm  and 
independent  a  foundation  as  a  poem  by  Goethe,  an 
epigram  by  Lessing,  a  statue  by  Thorwaldsen,  or  a 
painting  by  Overbeck.  The  independent  musical 
thoughts  (themes)  possess  the  identity  of  a  quota- 
tion and  the  distinctness  of  a  painting;  they  are 
individual,  personal,  eternal. 

Unable,  as  we  were,  to  endorse  Hegel's  opinion 
respecting  the  want  of  intellectual  merit  in  music,  it 
seems  to  us  a  still  more  glaring  error  on  his  part  to 
assert  that  the  sole  function  of  music  is  the  expres- 
sing of  an  "  inner  non-individuality."  Even  from 
Hegel's  musical  point  of  view,  which,  while  over- 
looking the  inherently  form-giving  and  objective 
activity  of  the  composer,  conceives  music  as  the  free 
manifestation  of  purely  subjective  states,  its  want  of 
individuality  follows  by  no  means,  since  the  subjec- 
tively-producing mind  is  essentially  individual. 

How  the  individuality  shows  itself  in  the  choice 
and  working  out  of  the  various  musical  elements,  we 
have  already  pointed  out  in  the  third  chapter.     The 


174  THE    BEAUTIFUL   IN    MUSIC. 

stigma  that  music  has  no  subject  is,  therefore,  quite 
unmerited.  Music  has  a  subject — i.e.,  a  musical 
subject,  which  is  no  less  a  vital  spark  of  the  divine 
fire  than  the  beautiful  of  any  other  art.  Yet,  only  by 
steadfastly  denying  the  existence  of  any  other 
"  subject  "  in  music,  is  it  possible  to  save  its  "  true 
subject."  The  indefinite  emotions  which  at  best 
underlie  the  other  kind  of  subject,  do  not  explain  its 
spiritual  force.  The  latter  can  only  be  attributed  to 
the  definite  beauty  of  musical  form,  as  the  result  of 
the  untrammeled  working  of  the  human  mind  on 
material  susceptible  of  intellectual  manipulation. 


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